COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS
The Committee on Human Rights (CHR), created in 1976, is a standing committee of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. It uses the influence and prestige of the institutions it represents in behalf of scientists, engineers, and health professionals anywhere in the world who are unjustly detained or imprisoned for exercising their basic human rights as promulgated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). More information about the CHR.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK
The CHR also serves as the secretariat of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (H.R. Network). It works to address grave issues of science and human rights, particularly the unjust detention or imprisonment of scientists, scholars, engineers, and health professionals throughout the world. It seeks to promote the free exchange of ideas and opinions among scientists and scholars in all countries, and it stands in solidarity with sister national academies and scholarly societies worldwide to support their independence and autonomy. More information about the H.R. Network.

In the spotlight

Network Issues Press Release Following 11th Biennial Meeting
June 3, 2014

On the occasion of the 11th biennial meeting of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (Network) hosted last week by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle, grave human rights abuses perpetrated against scientific colleagues in several countries were presented.  In particular, distinguished representatives from 29 national academies discussed and condemned the blatant abuse of health professionals and violation of the principle of medical neutrality in Syria--the primary focus of this statement by the Network's Executive Committee.  Read press release and symposium program.

Medical Doctor and Former Rector of the University of Istanbul, Released by Turkish authorities
March 12, 2014

The CHR learned yesterday from colleagues in Turkey that Kemal Alemdaroglu had just been released from Silivri prison and returned home.  We have been working closely with his family and expect they will send us details about the circumstances of his release in the coming days.  Meanwhile, we wanted to share the good news and to thank our “Correspondents,” and Network participating academies for their many interventions in Dr. Alemdaroglu’s behalf.  For background information on his case and the Ergenekon Trial, see our 2013 report, Scientists, Engineers, and Medical Doctors in Turkey:  A Human Rights Mission.

Turkish Medical Doctor Fatih Hilmioglu Released on Medical Grounds
February 20, 2014

The CHR has just learned from Turkish colleagues that Dr. Fatih Hilmioglu has been granted a precautionary release from Silivri prison on medical grounds. Turkish doctors have testified that he suffers from stage three liver cancer. The Constitutional Court made the ruling one day after Dr. Hilmioglu's lawyers submitted a report by a team of medical experts stating that the medical treatment Dr. Hilmioglu requires would not be possible in the Silivri prison facility. Dr. Hilmioglu's lawyer has stated to the press that the Constitutional Court's ruling was taken as a precaution, and was the first of its kind. Read more

CHR Director Carol Corillon Speaks at Gresham College
   • Academics urged to do more on human rights, Times Higher Education, December 13, 2013

Turkish Engineer Kemal Gürüz Released from Prison Pending Trial Outcome

Dr. Kemal Guruz (left) and Dr. Mehmet Haberal (right) with former NAS President Dr. Bruce Alberts in September 2013.

September 5, 2013

CHR has just been informed about the release of Kemal Gürüz, former head of the Higher Education Board (YÖK) in Turkey, by his wife Guniz. The court ordered his release from prison pending the outcome of the February 29 Postmodern Coup Trial, which began earlier this week. The only non-member of the military charged in the trial, he had been held in prison since June 2012. At the end of August, he was sentenced in another trial, called Ergenekon, to 13 years 11 months in prison. He is permitted to remain free pending the outcome of his appeal. For more information on Professor Gürüz's case, see the report below.

Scientists, Engineers, and Medical Doctors in Turkey: A Human Rights Mission: A report to the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies by Carol Corillon, Peter Diamond, and Hans-Peter Zenner

The report follows a mission undertaken by the three authors in February, which included visits to Sincan high security prison outside the capital, Ankara, and to Silivri high security prison, about a two-hour drive from Istanbul. The report describes four enormous and highly-irregular political trials heard by the otherwise defunct “High Criminal Courts.”

Read More In the Spotlight