AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim

AAAS Human Rights Action Network

Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

Paulo de Tarso Ramos Ribeiro
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Esplanada dos Ministérios
Bloco T, Ed. Sede
Brasília-DF
Brazil


Dear Mr. Minister:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 131,000 individual members and 272 affiliated groups. AAAS publishes the preeminent scientific journal Science. The Association seeks to advance science and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists, engineers, and health professionals and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

On behalf of the Committee, I am writing to express my concern about the recent dismissal of Dr. Debora Diniz from her position at the Catholic University of Brasília. It appears that Dr. Diniz was fired in retaliation for her participation in a debate on abortion in Brazil in March 2001. As you may be aware, Dr. Diniz is a respected scholar and winner of the Manuel Velasco-Suarez International Bioethics Award given by the World Health Organization and director of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Network, a NGO in Brazil.

A government ministry invited Dr. Diniz to take part in the debate because of her research on the issue. She was asked to present her findings and discuss the ethical and sociological issues of abortion in Brazil. However, the other participants grew quite hostile and little substantive discussion took place during the debate. According to reports, shortly after the debate, public attorneys pressured the university chancellor to fire Dr. Diniz. As Dr. Diniz had participated in the debate in her capacity as director of the NGO and attended the debate during a school holiday, the university did not take any formal action against her at that time. The university again attempted to fire Dr. Diniz in July 2001. At this time, an official from the Public Defenders Office spoke with university officials and the dismissal was rescinded. Nevertheless, her status at the university changed and she was no longer allowed to teach bioethics. In September of this year, university officials officially fired Dr. Diniz.

This case raises serious concerns about the future of academic freedom in Brazil. Scholars must have the freedom to conduct their research and discuss their findings. This is a position that Brazil officially supports as dismissing an individual for legitimate scholarship violates academic freedom provisions codified in Brazil's 1988 constitution. Furthermore, such action also violates academic freedom and freedom of expression provisions in international human rights law, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

I respectfully request the government to conduct a full inquiry into this case and to make every effort to ensure that Dr. Diniz is fully and unconditionally reinstated in her position at the Catholic University.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.


Sincerely,

Carole Nagengast, Ph.D., Chair
Committee on Scientific Freedom
and Responsibility

Main | CSFR Letters | Science and Human Rights Program