AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Summer 2005 Vol XXV, No. 1

Science and Human Rights Workshop: Building a coalition to work on domestic human rights

Sarah Olmstead

The connections between science and human rights is often not immediately obvious to either scientists or the public; however there are many ways in which scientists currently utilize technology and research to benefit human rights. For example, NASA and the US Agency for International Development run a program called the Famine Early Warning System Network, which uses satellite imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and meteorological and economic data to anticipate famines and more effectively distribute aid. A domestic example of science in the service of human rights is the research carried out by Physicians for Human Rights, among others, into identifying patterns of racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. health care, and the effort in the broader health care community to produce a report card on health quality for minority populations.

There are many scientists working on issues related to human rights, however the community is not currently organized in such a way that scientists can easily share their work with others; as a result, much energy is spent in duplicating work of others.

On 25-26 July 2005, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program organized a two-day meeting for members of the scientific community and human rights organizations to discuss ways in which the scientific community can be pro-actively engaged in promoting human rights domestically. The goal of the meeting was to lay the groundwork for the development of a human rights coalition of scientists and scientific societies working on domestic human rights issues, and foster better communication between groups producing scientific data and those looking to use such data.

The meeting began with speakers discussing ways in which science has already Sarah Olmstead, Project Coordinator and Victoria Baxter, Program Associate Science and Human Rights Program been applied to specific human rights concerns, including GIS mapping to identify potential famines, social science research to identify patterns of racial disparities in health care, indicators to measure environmental health and the use of budget analysis to measure compliance with the right to education. Ajamu Baraka, Director of the United States Human Rights Network (USHRN), gave a broad overview of the history of human rights in the United States and outlined several pressing issues for domestic human rights, including, post-9/11 curtailing of basic freedoms and civil liberties, treatment of detainees at Guantanamo, rights of immigrants, refugees, and undocumented workers, police brutality and injustices in US prisons, and basic issues with racial and economic disparities in health and housing.

AAAS also invited Hans Hogrefe, the Minority Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus to present an overview of how human rights issues are brought before Congress. Although the Human Rights Caucus limits its work to international - rather than domestic - issues and specific cases, Hans did provide some key insights as to how to approach both the Caucus and other Members of Congress on human rights issues. Interestingly, he pointed out that there is a view on the Hill that scientists come at issues without an agenda, which means they can be very influential in presenting research and/or specific data in order to educate, rather than being seen as pushing for a particular policy. Hans also suggested that a good way for scientists to communicate with Congress would be to go directly to the Congressional Research Service with findings they might be relevant to legislation or other governmental decisions.

For the remaining time of the conference, participants organized themselves into three topical area discussion groups: health and human rights; discrimination/environmental justice/economic, social and cultural rights; and academic freedom/the right to education. Participants identified ways to leverage existing resources within the scientific sector - broadly defined - to be mobilized and utilized for the protection and promotion of human rights within the United States.

The outcome of these breakout sessions were a series of specific recommendations for future resources, activities, and other products. Some of the resources planned are educational materials, both directed at scientists and the media and public, as well as web-based searchable databases of experts and scientific research that's relevant to the work of human rights activists and decisionmakers. The focus of the resources are to get existing research findings to social justice and human rights advocates and to find ways to bridge gaps in understanding, culture, and language between the science community and human rights actors. The resources identified in the discussions are aimed at linking scientists and advocates, identifying and facilitating networking possibilities and developing sustainable relationships.

Scientific societies and academic associations have a certain amount of clout and prestige that make them an invaluable resource to promoting the full realization of human rights-both civil and political and economic, social and cultural-in the United States and abroad. Additionally, there are many ways in which the various fields of science can be applied to human rights issues. Scientists and academics have strongly supported many of the core values of human rights, such as freedom of expression and association. Over the last 30 years, many individual members of the scientific community and their respective societies have emerged as strong advocates for human rights around the world and are interested in promoting a human rights agenda in their own country. Hopefully the initiatives discussed above will be able to expand the historical activities undertaken by scientific organizations and coalesce the scientific community into a more united and powerful force for the promotion of human rights.

More information on the workshop and the Science and Human Rights Coalition can be found at http://shr.aaas.org/ scisocs/