krj@na.toronto.edu (Ken Jackson) (07/26/89)
As chairman of the SIAM Committee on the Human Rights of Mathematical
Scientists, I just received a letter from Kari Hannibal, the Acting
Director of the Science and Human Rights Program of the Office of
Scientific Freedom and Responsibility (OFSR) of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), addressed to "Affiliates of the
OFSR Human Rights Program" asking for our help in documenting recent
human rights violations in China. Let me quote from her letter:
"As you are all keenly aware, the suppression of public dissent in
China in June 1989 following weeks of peaceful demonstration for
reform of government policies has resulted in hundreds of deaths,
arrests of over 1,600 people, trials, and executions. The OFSR
Science and Human Rights Program is coordinating with several
human rights organizations to obtain and confirm information on
the situation of professionals and students within the scientific,
medical and engineering communities who have experienced
violations of their human rights."
"We would like to ask your help in this documentation effort.
If you or your colleagues become aware of actions by the Chinese
government which compromise the human rights of scientists,
engineers, health professionals, or students in these fields,
would you please forward the information to us. We, in turn, will
attempt to keep you as up to date as possible with new information
as it comes to us ..."
"For those of you working in education institutions, we would urge
you to ask your respective universities to be flexible in their
dealings with students who wish to stay for an additional year.
We have been told that some students may now be arriving in North
America with an incomplete set of certificates and test scores,
having left China at the time of the demonstrations which
coincided with the period of exams."
"Finally, there have been some reports of harassment or
surveillance of Chinese students studying in North America. If
you learn of such actions, would you please let us know? Several
human rights organizations are concerned about such actions and
are collecting information on it."
Please forward any relevant information you have either to me or to
Kari Hannibal directly.
Ms. Kari Hannibal,
Acting Director of the Science and Human Rights Program,
Office of Scientific Freedom and Responsibility,
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
1333 H Street, NW,
Washington, DC, 20005.
(Phone: 202-326-6792)
(Cable: ADVANCESCI)
Prof. Kenneth R. Jackson, krj@na.toronto.edu (on Internet, CSNet,
Computer Science Dept., ARPAnet, BITNET)
University of Toronto, krj@na.utoronto.ca (on CDNnet and other
Toronto, Ontario, X.400 nets (Europe))
Canada M5S 1A4 ...!{uunet,pyramid,watmath,ubc-cs}!utai!krj
(Phone: 416-978-7075) (on UUCP)
(FAX: 416-978-4765)