Committee on Human Rights: Annual Report 2022 (2023)
Chapter: About the Committee on Human Rights
Committee on Human Rights
Created in 1976, the Committee on Human Rights (CHR) is a standing membership committee of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and National Academy of Medicine (NAM). The three National Academies are independent institutions created to provide evidence-based advice on pressing challenges related to science, technology, engineering, and health.
Our Mission
The CHR promotes engagement with internationally recognized human rights norms to help shape effective, sustainable, and just responses to societal challenges. It advocates, and marshals support, for members of the research, technological, and healthcare communities who come under threat as a result of repression and discrimination.
Our Vision
The CHR strives to be a leading source of information and guidance on the connections between human rights and science, engineering, and medicine, with the aim of furthering global justice.
What We Do
| Advocate | Convene | Facilitate |
| We appeal for justice in support of colleagues subjected to human rights abuses through outreach to U.S. and international stakeholders, mobilization of national academy members, and use of human rights complaint mechanisms. | Through a range of events, we explore innovative responses to pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and science, medicine, and engineering. | We build communities of scientists, engineers, and health professionals, encouraging them to integrate human rights into their work and take collective action against rights abuses. |
| Advise | Inform | Connect |
| We provide guidance to the U.S. National Academies, and its membership, on the human rights dimensions of science, engineering, and health-related challenges. | We develop resource collections, campaigns, and other creative initiatives that clarify the connections between human rights and science, engineering, and medicine. We highlight strategies that empower scientific and health professionals to engage with human rights and pursue justice. | We connect professional colleagues under threat with individuals and institutions that provide needed services, such as pro bono legal advice and assistance with fellowships and academic placemements. |
Our Team
Supported by a staff of human rights professionals, the CHR is composed of members of the three Academies who are appointed by the Academies' Presidents.
Committee Members
Martin Chalfie, Chair
Columbia University
Chris Beyrer
Duke University
John Carlson
Yale University
Giselle Corbie
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Carlos del Rio
NAM International Secretary
Vanessa Northington Gamble
The George Washington University
Wesley Harris
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michele Heisler*
University of Michigan
John Hildebrand
NAS International Secretary
Andrea Liu
University of Pennsylvania
Douglas Massey
Princeton University
Jonathan Moreno*
University of Pennsylvania
Deb Niemeier
University of Maryland
James M. Tien
NAE International Secretary
*Heisler and Moreno joined the Committee in early 2023.
Staff
| Rebecca Everly, Director | Ana Deros, Research Associate |
| Patricia Evers, Deputy Director | Pamela Gamble, Senior Program Assistant |
| Tracy Sahay, Program Officer | |
About the
International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies
The CHR serves as the Secretariat of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRN), an international consortium of honorary societies in the sciences, engineering, and medicine with a shared interest in human rights. The IHRN was founded in 1993 to alert national academies to human rights abuses involving fellow scientists and scholars and to equip academies with the tools to provide support in such cases. Today the IHRN advocates in support of professional colleagues suffering human rights abuses; promotes the free exchange of ideas and opinions among scientists and scholars; and supports the independence and autonomy of national academies and scholarly societies worldwide. The IHRN also raises global awareness about the connections between human rights and science, engineering, and medicine.
The IHRN provides a platform for sharing information on cases and issues of concern to all interested academies. More than 90 academies have participated in the IHRN, such as by sending a representative to one or more of the IHRN’s biennial meetings. To date, 13 such meetings have been hosted by IHRN-affiliated academies around the world. These events provide an opportunity for academy members to explore topical science and human rights themes, for instance on sustainable development, and to share information and strategies on cases/issues of human rights concern. The next biennial meeting will be hosted in partnership with the Academy of Science of South Africa from June 6-8, 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa.
“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 27, UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
