AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition

Welfare of Scientists | Service to the Scientific Community | Service to the Human Rights Community | Education and Information Resources

Area of Activity II: Science Ethics and Human Rights

Co-Chairs:     Rob Albro (American Anthropological Association)
                        Doug Richardson (Association of American Geographers)

The Science Ethics and Human Rights working group is devoted to promoting the incorporation of human rights into scientific codes of ethics by fostering an appreciation among scientists and scientific associations of the relevance of human rights to ethical standards, the conduct of science, and human research protections.

Rationale

The ethical underpinnings of research will be enhanced by raising the visibility of human rights principles as part of the practice of science, in the broadest sense, including but not limited to scientific research. Explicit linking of international human rights principles to science ethics enhances recognition that science and technology have both direct and indirect implications for humans and the world in which we live. Doing so also will serve to promote a common respect for those involved in, or affected by scientific research, regardless of institutional context. If ethics codes guide the work of scientists and help them identify with a profession, more firmly linking these to human rights principles will serve to bridge scientists across professions and geographical boundaries. These efforts will help to emphasize that science is not an exception in the application of human rights principles.

The working group’s programmatic activities are carried out along two parallel tracks: pursuit of the Coalition’s overarching initiative and specialized area of activity projects.  These activities are envisioned to be mutually supportive and reinforcing, with progress on one enhancing the likelihood of progress in another. The group is currently pursuing the following projects.

Article 15, Human Rights and Science Ethics: An Analysis

Goal:	To facilitate professional scientific associations in the United States draw more explicit links between international human rights principles and their own ethical frameworks for professional conduct.
Activities:	Survey and evaluate the current ethics codes of scientific associations in order to determine the presence/absence of elements of Article 15; together with the Education and Information Resources working group, identify potential doorways or locations in ethics codes for the introduction of Article 15, including taking into account disciplinary differences in ways leading to different strategies for different scientific associations.
Outputs:	A landscape document that compares international ethics instruments with domestic ethics codes, in terms of a series of particular ethics case studies, as a white paper that includes discussion of the current status of Article 15 in ethics codes; a case-driven panel at the biennial AAAS Science and Human Rights Coalition meeting on the subject of the relevance and application of Article 15 across select scientific disciplines.

Landscape Document: A Tool for Identifying and Developing the Relationship between Science Ethics and Human Rights

Goal:	To encourage scientific associations to incorporate human rights frameworks into their codes of ethics and disciplinary ethical discussions.
Activities:	The Landscape Document will take shape in three parts: Part I: A summary analysis of international human rights agreements as relevant to science ethics. Part II: A series of up to six case studies from a variety of scientific disciplines that address current trends in ethical debates, with attention to the role human rights has (or has not) played in the outcome. Part III: A discussion synthesizing the relationship between human rights and ethics, as outlined in Parts I and II, followed by a “toolkit” for approaching a scientific association about incorporating human rights into its code of ethics.
Outputs:	A landscape document discussing human rights and science ethics, with emphasis on the role human rights can (and does) play in scientific associations’ codes of ethics, and recommendations for how to go about incorporating human rights more systematically into codes of ethical conduct.  The document will be made available on the Coalition Resources website and publicized via the SHRP and Coalition newsletters.

The working group identified the following priorities for 2009:

1. Determine and assess the basic challenges of incorporating human rights into science ethics, as illustrated by a series of “case studies”
2. Produce a “landscape document” analyzing common themes in domestic and international codes of ethics, which will form the basis for a discussion of how to introduce human rights language into science ethics codes

Since July 2009, and with the assistance of an AAAS intern, the working group completed a survey of societies and associations that incorporate human rights language into their ethical framework, finding eight organizations that directly incorporate human rights into their ethical codes. The Group has analyzed these findings, and drafted and solicited three case studies highlighting the interaction of human rights with specific scientific associations’ ethical standards.  Three case studies in anthropology, computer science and psychology are currently being drafted, and an additional three case studies are expected to pull from geography, intellectual property, medicine and/or weapons development.  The group expects to have completed the analysis of codes of ethics and three case studies by the Coalition Meeting this July.  Going forward, work will proceed on an additional three case studies and an associated guide for incorporating human rights into scientific codes of ethics. The group has established a googlegroup platform for sharing documents and members are currently working on various aspects of the landscape document and accompanying case studies. 

Further information

For further information about the working group's objectives and activities, click here.

If you wish to find out more about this working group and how your association can participate, please contact working group co-chair Rob Albro (American Anthropological Association) and Doug Richardson (Association of American Geographers).

 

(page updated 11/17/2011)