The right to scientific knowledge and its expression

A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
Thomas Jefferson

We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That Declaration was seen as a necessary complement to the Charter of the United Nations. A UNESCO study produced as part of the preparation for the drafting of the Declaration recognized the astounding fact that these rights were recognized by the cultures of the world, although the sources of these rights were seen to be quite different from one culture to another.

The Delegation of the United States led in the demand for such a Declaration, and Eleanor Roosevelt did great service to the world in chairing the committee that drafted the declaration. As a result of her work and that of the U.S. Delegation, the community of nations has formally agreed to these rights!

The Declaration, among the various rights it makes explicit includes the following statements that relate to the right to access to scientific knowledge:

• Article 27 includes: "Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits."
• Article 19 states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
• Article 26 includes: "Everyone has the right to education.......Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
• Article 18 includes: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."

Unfortunately, we retain only those rights which we will fight for and which we hold against the incursion of others. Even in the United States, which is justifiably proud of its record for human rights, the Bush administration has sought to limit the rights of government scientists to fully inform the public of aspects of the scientific knowledge that they had obtained, when those aspects were seen as contrary to the political interests of the administration.

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.
Thomas Jefferson

In an editorial in Science (which is echoed in SciDev.Net), Leonard Rubenstein and Mona Younis write:

Perhaps the greatest challenge is for the scientific community to become a constituency for human rights. Many scientists eschew such involvement as too "political," and thus in conflict with scientific traditions of impartiality and independent inquiry. But these and other traditions, such as rigorous analysis and peer review, are both compatible with and essential to the realization of human rights. Indeed, their contributions to human rights are limitless so long as they are applied with scientific integrity and an awareness of the boundaries of science and policy.

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is therefore fitting for scientists to commit to joining the global effort to realize human rights, both at home and abroad. As history and recent events have shown, we cannot take human rights for granted--to do so invites transgressions. We urge the scientific community to add its expertise and voice to global efforts to ensure that all governments respect, protect, and fulfill that which is fundamental to human life--human rights.

Let us differentiate the responsibility of the scientist as citizen from that as scientist.

• Professional scientists have enjoyed exceptional educations and in most societies science itself enjoys high prestige. As privileged citizens, teachers and intellectual leaders, I believe scientists should lead in the battle to obtain and keep human rights for all.
• Scientific professionalism demands that scientists work to assure that their scientific knowledge is shared with others and to challenge unscientific and anti-scientific beliefs of others. I believe that responsibility includes seeking to affect government policy as well as working within the scientific community, I believe the scientific community also has the responsibility of using its abilities to investigate abridgments of human rights and to promote understanding of the societal processes related to human rights.
  

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