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AAAS Human Rights Program Facing Changes:
Human Rights Data Analysis Group Forms New NGO
Audrey Chapman, Director,
AAAS Science &Human Rights Program
Thirteen years ago when I first became its Director, the Science and Human
Rights Program had a small staff. Then, like now, SHR operated on two tracks:
protecting the human rights of scientists and the scientific community worldwide
and applying scientific methodologies to human rights. From its inception more
than 25 years ago the Program has conducted documentation and advocacy related
to violations of scientific freedom and the professional rights of scientists
and violations of the human rights of scientists in their capacity as ordinary
citizens. In the 1980s, the Program also began to develop further the link between
science and human rights by making scientific knowledge, methods, and expertise
available to benefit human rights. In the past 13 years, the Program has expanded
the scope of its work and the size of its staff. The most notable change has
been the expansion of our initiatives developing and disseminating applications
of science to human rights.
In the early 1990s, the scientific initiatives of the Program focused primarily
on providing experts for forensic investigations into suspicious deaths and
exhumations of mass graves. SHR also offered intensive training opportunities
for forensic physicians from Latin America and Africa in the forensic sciences
and human rights and trained a group of anthropology students in Guatemala leading
to the formation of the Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Team. At an earlier
point, SHR had pioneered the application of genetics to human rights for purposes
of confirming or disproving a family link with children believed to have been
kidnapped from human rights victims and to identify remains in mass graves.
The SHR also sponsored the development of an edited volume on statistics and
human rights and several resources, also written by consultants, relating to
the diagnosis and treatment of torture survivors.
Ten years ago SHR began pioneering applications of information technology solutions
and statistical techniques to human rights to help human rights workers collect
and make sense of the enormous quantities of information that were becoming
available through the establishment of truth commissions and human rights tribunals.
SHR activities included developing methods to document human rights violations;
providing technical assistance to human rights commissions on collecting, storing
and analyzing testimonies and other documents; and providing hands-on training
and support to human rights activists in the use of new technologies. SHR also
adapted statistical methodologies for human rights applications.
Much of the impetus for these efforts was associated with the work of Patrick
Ball, who came to the Program ten years ago, initially as a consultant and then
as a full time staff member. Patrick played an important role in assisting truth
commissions in Haiti, South Africa, Guatemala, and Peru. He also conducted research
for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and testified in the
Milosovic case. Consultants working with Patrick also provided technical assistance
to NGOs in Cambodia and East Timor.
Eighteen months ago SHR expanded its staff capabilities by establishing a Human
Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) led by Patrick Ball. The HRDAG staff team
has included Rafe Kaplan, Miguel Cruz, Michelle Dukich, Kristen Cibelli, and
several field consultants (Richard Conibere, Romesh Silva, and Ken Ward). The
HRDAG team provided assistance to truth commissions in East Timor and Sierra
Leone, and initiated new projects in Colombia, Chad, Sri Lanka, and Guatemala,
and Afghanistan.
At the end of October, the Human Rights Data Analysis Group decided to leave
AAAS to join a non-profit technical group focused on “developing technology
to serve humanity.” The group will become part of a larger group called
the Benetech Initiative (www.benetech.org) located in Palo Alto, CA. Ultimately,
they intend to create an associated NGO to be called The Martus Group which
will create information technology and conduct statistical research on behalf
of human rights and other social justice causes.
While we will miss our former colleagues, their departure will provide the
opportunity for SHR to develop new kinds of applications to science. The situation
is analogous to my early years with SHR when other organizations and groups
began using applications of the forensic sciences and we therefore decided to
invest our efforts in other areas.
SHR will be continuing its work in five areas: human rights documentation work
and the operation of the AAAS Human Rights Human Rights Action Network (AAASHRAN);
methodologies for monitoring human rights, including the development of indicators
and benchmarks; research on the effectiveness and impact of truth commissions
and other transitional justice mechanisms; the linkages between environmental
protection and human rights; and science and intellectual property issues. Many
of these projects have been described in other issues of our newsletter. We
also have several exciting projects under development that we will be writing
about during 2004.
The parting is a congenial one. We were pleased to have nurtured this unique
group and, while we will miss them, we are glad to see Patrick and his colleagues
find an opportunity to develop in new directions. HRDAG will be at AAAS for
6-8 more weeks and we plan to maintain close ties with it in the future.
I hope you will join me in wishing the HRDAG team every success in their new
venture.
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