AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

The Right to Travel

Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

• What is the AAAS policy regarding travel restrictions?
• What is the Clearinghouse doing to address travel restrictions imposed by Cuba on its own scientists?

PLEASE NOTE: Information contained on this website is current as of July 2002. Travel regulations may have changed. Readers are encouraged to contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control directly for the most current regulations.

What is the AAAS policy regarding travel restrictions?

AAAS supports the right of scientists and academicians to exchange ideas and participate in scientific activities on a worldwide basis (scientists in this context include physical, natural and social scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and the medical community). Addressing travel restrictions by both the US and Cuban governments reflects AAAS policy as stated in the resolution of the AAAS Board of Directors adopted on June 25, 1999 entitled, "The Universality of Science And Freedom in the Conduct of Science." The resolution states, "We oppose the use of immigration laws or other legal and administrative measures to bar foreign visitors and travel restrictions on US scientists to impede international exchanges."

That science is an international enterprise dependent on free travel, communication, and collaboration across national borders is a view shared by all major US and international scientific organizations. In fact, the statutes of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) state, "ICSU, as an international nongovernmental body, shall observe and actively uphold the principle of the universality of science. This principle entails freedom of association, expression, information, communication and movement in connection with international scientific activities."

Freedom of movement, including the right to travel, is an internationally recognized human right. The hardships that violations of this right impose on individual scientists and on scientific inquiry have been acknowledged in a number of human rights instruments, including the 1975 Helsinki Accords. In addition, in 1974, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the "Recommendation on the Status of Scientific Researchers," which encourages Members states to "actively promote the interplay of ideas and information among scientific researchers throughout the world…and to the end should take all measures necessary to ensure that scientific researchers are enabled…to participate in international scientific and technological gatherings and to travel abroad."

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What is the Clearinghouse doing to address travel restrictions imposed by Cuba on its own scientists?

Program staff traveling to Cuba in the fall of 2000 to research current restrictions by the Cuban government and its effects on travel and collaboration. The program is also conducting a Spanish-language survey that addresses, among other topics, travel restrictions. In addition, please refer to the report that was written in 1998, The Right to Travel: The Effect of Travel Restrictions on Scientific Collaboration Between American and Cuban Scientists. This report addresses restrictions on travel by both the US And Cuba.

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PLEASE NOTE: Information contained on this website is current as of July 2002. Travel regulations may have changed. Readers are encouraged to contact the Office of Foreign Assets Control directly for the most current regulations.

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