International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies: Proceedings - Symposium and Fifth Biennial Meeting, Paris, May 10-11, 2001 (2003)

Summary: The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (the Network) held its fifth biennial meeting on May 10 and 11, 2001, at the Palais de l’Institut de France in Paris. The main events of the meeting were a semipublic symposium, Human Rights and the Scientific Community, and a 1 1/2-day workshop on a variety of topics related to science, engineering, and health in the human rights context. Summaries of the talks given by speakers from Kenya, Kosovo, Iran, and Egypt, and France are included At the workshop, in addition to reviewing the cases undertaken by the Network, their current status, and plans for future actions, a variety of topics of particular interest or concern to the various academies represented were identified and may be considered for future projects if sufficient resources are available. These suggestions ranged from developing guidelines for academics engaged in human rights advocacy to promoting the use of economic assistance as leverage in human rights cases; from evaluating the Network’s “tools” to considering how the Network might generate the political will necessary to promote free scientific communication.