GOVERNMENT & POLICY in three areas: violations of scientific freedom and professional rights of scientists, violations of the human rights of scientists in their capacity as ordinary citizens, and participation by scientists in practices that infringe upon the human rights of others. One of the most important tools for monitoring science and human rights abuses is the AAAS Human Rights Action Network (AAASHRAN). According to SHR Director Audrey R. Chapman, the network WILLIAM G. SCHULZ, C&EN WASHINGTON "uses e-mail and the World Wide Web to inform subscribers of cases and developHE FEDERAL TRIAL FOR TEXAS at Ohio University, Athens—but APS and ments deserving special attention and to Tech physician and plague re- other groups are struggling to obtain a stu- coordinate scientists' efforts to appeal to searcher Thomas C. Butler un- dent visa for his eldest daughter, who is 23. governments on behalf of their colleagues. folding in Lubbock, Texas, high- Ohio University has offered her agraduate SHR also organizes humanitarian and factlights how scientists try, at least, fellowship in chemistry, but the U.S. has finding missions to investigate human to take care of their own when it comes to yet to issue her a student visa, and the fam- rights issues, prepares documentation for securing human rights. At the start of the ily remains separated. The American Congress and other U.S. government offitrial, for example, four Nobel Laureates— Chemical Society has agreed to assist cials and international human rights groups, and organizes programs on human including Peter C. Agre, one of this year's Hadizadeh's daughter in this matter. chemistry prizewinners—signed an open Hadizadeh's case and many others rely rights issues related to science." letter to decry the legal proceedings against on the networks of contacts that are part Worldwide, there is an International Butler and its potential impact on science of the ever-increasing globalization of sciHuman Rights Network of Academies & (C&EN, Nov 10, page 15). ence. These networks are formalized at Scholarly Societies. "Network members > subscribe to the belief that, because The merits of the case against | their academies and scholarly soButler aside, it is just one example 1 cieties are held in high esteem and of how formal and informal net* their dignity, integrity, and objecworks of scientists can today quickz tivity are widely recognized, their ly be mobilized on behalf of col1 interventions can be an effective leagues—almost anywhere in the world—who are in trouble. Often1 and influential tool in advancing retimes, the diplomacy and pressure | spect for human rights," reads a tactics work, but there are many 2 network statement. more cases of scientists who have | At ACS, the Subcommittee on sacrificed their lives speaking out 5 Scientific Freedom & Human against injustice and political re| Rights works on the behalf of pression or for simply going about | chemical scientists around the their research. | world who are or who have been | imprisoned, tortured, exiled, siOne recent victory occurred for < lenced, or barred from travel. the American Physical Society's (APS) Committee on InternationAs with other scientific social Freedom of Scientists. Along with ACCUSED Butler (shown with wife, Elizabeth) was eties, ACS relies on the United Namany other organizations that pro- indicted for allegedly lying to federal agents and tions' Universal Declaration of vided help, they were able to secure smuggling plague bacteria. Human Rights as its guide for monU.S. visas for Iranian physicist Moitoring human rights cases. hammad Hadi Hadizadeh Yazdi and most most major scientific societies, which On the 50th anniversary of this declaof his immediate family maintain one or more committees or sub- ration in 1998, then-ACS president Paul H. According to APS Office of Interna- committees concerned with monitoring L. Walter wrote to U.N. Secretary Genertional Affairs Director Irving Lerch, and addressing scientific freedom and hu- al Kofi Annan, "One of the most enlightHadizadeh had been imprisoned for his man rights around the world. The infor- ened documents of our time, the declaraadvocacy of democracy and the constitu- mal networks of colleagues tend to feed tion is a noble expression of the human tional rights of Iranian citizens. His case information to the committees where spe- desire to see the highest ideals of creative was championed by Herman Winick at the cific action can be taken to rescue or oth- thought and action." Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Lerch erwise help colleagues who are in peril. "The ACS subcommittee is important says, and by the National Academy of Scibecause there is no other group that specifences (NAS) Board on International Sci- ONE OF THE FIRST formal programs cre- ically looks out for the interests of chemists entific Organizations and its director, ated was the American Association for the when their rights and privileges have been Wendy White. Lerch says Hadizadeh was Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science abridged under questionable circumalso given sanctuary by numerous col- & Human Rights Program (SHR). The stances," says William F. CarrollJr. of Ocleagues in Italy, Japan, and France. program conducts documentation and ad- cidental Chemical Corp., who is 2004 ACS Now Hadizadeh has begun a fellowship vocacy related to human rights violations president-elect and chair of the ACS In-
SECURING HUMAN RIGHTS
Networks of scientists and scientific societies are poised to come to the aid of imperiled colleagues
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G O V E R N M E N T & POLICY ternational Activities Committee, which oversees the Scientific Freedom & Human Rights Subcommittee. "We have dealt with cases all over the world—China, Chile, South Africa," says Zafra M. Lerman of Columbia College,
she says. 'They are employed chemists here in the U.S. This is my pleasure." "When it's clearly the case of a chemist, we are the leaders," says Lerman ofthe subcommittee's work. Otherwise, the society works with committees at other scientific societies to stay abreast ofcases and to take action when necessary She says the force of pointing out that ACS is the world's largest scientific society can help bring action on behalf of an endangered scientist. Time is often critical, Lerman says, especially if a scientist is being tortured or otherwise threatened with death. When ACS is ready to act, it delivers letters signed by the ACS president to responsible high officials in the country in question. The letters are written to put pressure on the government in question. Copies of the letter are circulated wherever they might generate more pressure tofreeor otherwise alHadizadeh Lerch Lerman leviate conditions for a scientist under Chicago, who has chaired the subcom- efforts. She has worked tirelessly to free siege. "We keep the pressure up," she says. "One basically shames these people inmittee since its inception. She explains that dissident scientists in China, Belarus, and the subcommittee was formed in the mid- Russia. She feels rewarded when she sees to behaving," says Ernest L. Eliel, an emer1980s to help Soviet "refuseniks." people at ACS meetings whom she once itus professor of chemistry at the UniverRefuseniks were scientists and other had to meet in dark alleys in the former sity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a people who wanted to leave the former So- Soviet Union. "Today, they appear in suits," former ACS president. "That's sometimes the biggest role that human rights committees can perform." Human rights cases that have been or are being pursued byACS—in conjunction with many other science and human rights GET THERE FIRST W I T H ACCELRYS organizations—include the following: viet Union, mostly to immigrate to Israel. The Soviet government responded to these requests by jailing refuseniks, who, it turns out, were mostly chemists. Lerman won ACS's 2003 Charles Lathrop Parsons Award for her human rights
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• Alexandr Nikitin, a Russian engineer who was arrested and imprisoned for preparing a report on dangerous environmental practices in Russian territorial waters. • Zhu Zhengming, a Chinese chemist who is serving a prison term for activities associated with organizing a China Democratic Party branch in Zhejiang province. • Yury Bandazhevsky, a Belarus scientist who, despite alack ofevidence, was given an eight-year prison sentence on charges of bribing his students. He had previously criticized the Belarus government for its health policies in regard to managing risks caused by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.
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C & E N / N O V E M B E R 2 4 , 2003
• Kong Fanfen, a researcher at the Institute of Chemistry & Metallurgy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She was detained for peacefully promoting democratic change in China. • Grigory Pasko, a science journalist facing prosecution for his environmental work on nuclear safety issues in the Russian Pacific Fleet. HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
Pure and (notso) simple, At NAS, the Committee on Human Rights (CHR), which is also supported by members of the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, refers to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an overall guide when deciding cases to take on, CHRDirector Carol Corillon says. "However, many of the governments signing {this and other} agreements frequently and systematically violate these standards," writes Corillon in the proceedings of an NAS symposium on science and human rights. 'About half routinely imprison people for their ethical, political, or religious convictions. Governmentsanctioned torture is routine in one-third of the nations of the world." But, Corillon says, CHR "believes that pressure—sustained, respectful pressure— works. And when a scientific institution that carries authority and prestige makes appeals for its colleagues, its concerns are not as easily dismissed by governments as those made by humanrightsgroups sometimes are." The committee was created in 1976, Corillon says, although NAS worked on cases before that. Along with high-profile cases, such as that of dissident physicist Andrei Sakharov in the former Soviet Union, CHR members have worked on cases in Burma, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Malaysia, Syria, Turkey, and many other places in the world. Corillon says the focus is on scientists, engineers, and health professionals anywhere in the world whose human rights are being violated. They are prisoners of conscience held for expressing aright,usually freedom of speech. "We depend heavily on Amnesty International to hear about cases," Corillon says, "and sometimes members will call us with a case. We write letters and ask for fair treatment, a fair trial, access to lawyers, and medical care." In addition, NAS members are asked to appeal on behalf of colleagues, as well as all of the back-channel diplomacy NAS can muster. IF TORTURE is suspected, or if a person has disappeared, she says, "we act on the case immediately and ask that the person be accounted for." "We don't talk about cases until they are resolved," Corillon says, "and we may be handling several dozen cases at any one time. We stay in touch with people after their cases have been resolved, and we keep track of what's going on in the country." One recent CHR case is that of VietHTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
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GOVERNMENT & POLICY namese endocrinologist Nguyen Dan Que. He was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for a third time on March 17 of this year, and he has not been heard from since. Que has been critical of the government's health care policies, which he said discriminate against the poor. Que's brother, Quan Nguyen, a medical doctor who lives in Falls Church, Va., says: 'This is the third time my brother has been imprisoned. He was charged with using
his view that universities are not living up to their commitments to faculty members. 'They are siding with government over fear of losing their funding." Wiesel says. More generally he continues, "we have to do a better job of informing people {about the law and about science}. Seventy percent of the people in Butler's community already think he is guilty" when the presumption, according to law, is innocence. CHR committee member Robert F.
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cline and displacement ofindigenous people in that country Three military officers were eventually tried for the murder, and one conviction was obtained but later overturned. WestEberhard was part of a team that monitored the trial and helped provide support to Mack's surviving family, who live in constant danger. "We have a big list of cases there," WestEberhard says of Guatemala. "People there disappear or are murdered. In places like Guatemala," she says, human rights workers depend on three groups: the press, labor leaders, and academics. "Those are the people who speak up."
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the Internet to publicize information against the government.,, At a Vietnam Human Rights Day dinner last spring, CHR Chair Torsten N. Wiesel, president emeritus of Rockefeller University, had this to say about Que: "Dr. Que spent four months chained to a prison floor in a failed effort by the Vietnamese government to convince him to leave the country His family has urged him to think of his health and those here who care so much about him. Dr. Que has been offered many opportunities to leave Vietnam and begin a new life here in the United States. But he has steadfastly refused to abandon his vision of afreeand democratic country and his efforts to help achieve it." Wiesel says he became chair of CHR mostly through a sense ofresponsibility. He says that his being a Nobel Laureate and the former president of a prestigious university lends more prestige to the committee. Today, Wiesel and many other scientists involved in human rights work express concern about the situation for U.S. scientists. He mentions the case of Wfen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist who had been imprisoned and charged with espionage but who was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing. And "we are doing our best to look after how Butler is being treated," says Wiesel, who is one of the Nobel Laureates who has written on Butler's behalf. At a time of heightened concern for national security, he says, the Butler case highlights 24
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Wiesel
Curl Jr., one of the wii mersofthe 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemist ry, says, 'The situation with Butler falls outside the committee purview becaus * the committee's work is for prisoners of conscience"—not technically the case wit h Butler. But Curl is nonetheless among :he laureates who has protested Butler's t reatment. "It's despicable to t tirow the kitchen sink at someone," he says. Asked why it's important for scientists to do this work and not leave it to other human rights workers, Curl says, "It's mostly intellectual types who tend to get in trouble with the authorities." "I thought CHR could be effective because it went straight to power through accepted channels," says committee member MaryJaneWest-Erjerhard, a researcher with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, headquartered in Panama. "People in power sometimes have respect for scholars. "The worst thing that can happen to {prisoners of conscience} is that they be forgotten," she continues. W^hen cases are watched from outside the country, it can be effective. The case Wfest-Eberhard is most familiar with is that of Myrna Mack, a Guatemalan anthropologist who was murdered in Guatemala City in 1990 after she published her research documenting the de-
"WE STAND behind freedom of thought and expression for scientists," says Svetlana Stone-Wachtell, director of the Human Rights Program of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). Since 1978, the NYAS program members have stood ready to intervene "in cases where scientists, engineers, health professionals, and educators are detained, imprisoned, exiled, murdered, 'disappeared,' or deprived of the rights to pursue science, communicate their findings with their peers and the general public, and travel freely in accordance with established policies of the International Council for Science," according to the program's mission statement. "We keep our ears open to what goes on in the world," says Noemie B. Koller, a professor of physics at Rutgers University and chair of the APS Committee on International Freedom of Scientists. "When something goes wrong anywhere in the world, we know about it." Unfortunately say Koller and many other scientists, the U.S. itself is frequendy a countryof human rights concern these days. Koller and others point out that scientists increasingly face difficulty traveling to the U.S. for scientific meetings or to come here for work or study—all the result of new regulations that are impeding the flow of scientific information. The harsh treatment of scientists like Butler and Lee before him adds to the level of concern, she says, and her committee plans to send a monitor to Butler's trial in Lubbock. WTien dealing with human rights violations anywhere in the world, she says, "we never threaten. Our letters usually ask for information, and we call attention to unjust treatment of the candidate." •
"One basically shames these people into behaving."
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