AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Fall/Winter 2003 Vol XXIII, No. 3

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.