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ABSTRACT
The human right to science is set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The two texts, which were adopted consecutively, are similar but not identical. Conflicts in formulating the right to science in international human rights law were rooted in the ideological quarrels of the Cold War. The travaux préparatoires indicate debate about whether the right was essentially about the freedoms of scientists or about the purposes of science, including concern about abuse. Article 15(3) of the Covenant confirms recognition of ‘the freedom indispensable for scientific research … ’ The Soviet Union promoted the view that scientific research must pursue progressive aims but was unsuccessful in its attempts to entrench this in the texts. UNESCO’s contribution to the Declaration was insignificant but it had considerable influence on the Covenant text. In 1950 and 1951, UNESCO issued important and influential expert statements challenging ‘scientific’ arguments of racial supremacists, confirming in practice its own understanding of the direction that science should take.
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Notes
1 Verbatim minutes of the closing plenary session, Opera House, 26 June 1945, (1945) 1 UNCIO 658, at p. 677.
2 United States v. Brandt et al., Judgment, 19 August 1947, (1948) 2 TWC 183, at p. 183.
3 Mikel Mancisidor, ‘The Dawning of a Right Science and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1941–1948)’, in The Right to Science, Then and Now, ed. Helle Porsdam and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 17–32, at p. 20.
4 Inter-American Juridical Committee, Draft Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of Man and Accompanying Report, (1946) 40 American Journal of International law Supp. 93. The Draft Declaration was also produced as an official United Nations document: Draft Declaration of the International Rights and Duties of Man formulated by the Inter-American Juridical Committee, E/CN.4/2. It had been submitted to the first session of the General Assembly by Chile: Letter from the Representative of Chile to the Secretary-General, 3 November 1946, A/C.1/38.
5 For a detailed discussion of the drafting of the provision, see Cesare P.R. Romano, ‘The Origins of the Right to Science, The American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man’, in The Right to Science, Then and Now, ed. Helle Porsdam and Sebastian Porsdam Mann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), 33–53, at pp. 35–45.
6 Analysis of Various Draft International Bills of Rights, 23 January 1947, E/CN.4/W.16, p. 5; List of Types of Rights Contained in Drafts of Proposed International Bills of Rights, 31 January 1947, A/CN.4/W.18.
7 Draft Outline of International Bill of Rights (prepared by the Division of Human Rights), 4 June 1947, E/CN.4/AC.1/3, art. 44.
8 Drafting Committee on an International Bill of Human Rights, International Bill of Rights Documented Outline, 11 June 1947, E/CN.4/AC.1/3/Add.1, 356.
9 Summary Record of the 15th Meeting of the Drafting Committee of the Commission on Human Rights, 23 June 1947, E/CN.4/AC.1/SR.15, 3–4.
10 Report of the Drafting Committee on an International Bill of Human Rights: Suggestions for the Preamble of an International Declaration on Human Rights, 1 July 1947, E/CN.4/21, Annex E, 80–1.
11 Draft Charter of International Human Rights and Duties, Proposed by the Delegation of Ecuador, 12 November 1947, E/CN.4/32, art. 15 (emphasis in the original).
12 Summary Record of the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on the Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1947, E/CN.4/AC.2/SR.9, 2.
13 Ibid., 3–4.
14 Report of the Working Group on the Declaration on Human Rights, 10 December 1947, E/CN.4/57, 15.
15 Draft International Declaration on Human Rights, 16 December 1947, E/CN.4/77/Annex A, 8; Draft International Declaration on Human Rights, 17 December 1947, E/600, Annex A, 18.
16 France: Amendment to Article 30 of the Draft International Declaration of Human Rights, 11 June 1948, E/CN.4/126.
17 Summary Record of the 70th Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 11 June 1948, E/CN.4/SR.70, 4.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid., 5.
20 Ibid., 4–5.
21 Ibid., 6.
22 Ibid.; Draft International Declaration of Human Rights, 18 June 1948, E/CN.4/148/Add.1, 4; Draft International Declaration of Human Rights, 28 June 1948, E/800, 13.
23 Statement Made by the Delegation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, on 18 June 1948, in the Commission on Human Rights on the Results of the Commission’s Work, 28 June 1948, E/800, Appendix, 44; Compilation of Amendments to the Draft Declaration of Human Rights Submitted to the Third Committee before 4pm 6 October in Chronological Order, 6 October 1948, A/C.3/230, 16; Recapitulation of Amendments to Article 25 of the Draft Declaration (E/800), 20 October 1948, A/C.3/302.
24 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 623–4.
25 Ibid., 620.
26 Ibid., 630.
27 Ibid., 622.
28 Summary Record of the 151st meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.151, 628.
29 Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 636.
30 Ibid., 637.
31 Ibid., 635.
32 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 621; Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 637.
33 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 625. Also Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 637.
34 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 625. Also Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 636.
35 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 631–2.
36 Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 635.
37 Ibid.
38 Summary Record of the 151st meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.151, 630–1.
39 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 619.
40 Cuba: Amendments to Articles 23 to 27 of the Draft Declaration (E/800), 12 October 1948, A/C.3/261; Recapitulation of Amendments to Article 25 of the Draft Declaration (E/800), 20 October 1948, A/C.3/302
41 Summary Record of the 150th meeting of the Third Committee, 20 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.150, 618.
42 Ibid., 619.
43 Summary Record of the 151st meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.151, 630–27; China: Compromise text for Article 25 of the Draft Declaration (E/800), 22 November 1948, A/C.3/621.
44 Summary Record of the 152nd meeting of the Third Committee, 22 November 1948, A/C.3/SR.152, 635.
45 Jean-Jacques Renoliet, L’UNESCO oubliée, la Société des Nations et la coopération intellectuelle (1919–1946), Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 1999.
46 Gail Archibald, ‘How the ‘S’ came to be in UNESCO’, in Patrick Petitjean, Vladimir Zharov, Gisbert Glaser, Jacques Richardson, Bruno de Padirac and Gail Archibald, eds., Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO 1945–2005, Paris: UNESCO, 2006, 36–40.
47 The Grounds of an International Declaration of Human Rights (Report of the UNESCO Committee on the Philosophic Principles of the Rights of Man to the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations), 31 July 1947, Phil./10, 1. On the preparation of this document, see Mark Goodale, ed., Letters to the Contrary, A Curated History of the UNESCO Human Rights Survey, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2018.
48 Ibid., 6.
49 Ibid., 11.
50 Summary Record of the 26th Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 3 December 1947, 11–13.
51 Ibid., 16.
52 Communication Addressed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, 16 December 1947, E/CN.4/78.
53 For example, Verbatim record of the 69th Meeting of the Economic and Social Council, 14 March 1947, E/422. 1–2; Summary Record of the 8th Meeting of the Working Group on the Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1947, E/CN.4/AC.2/SR.8, 5; Summary Record of the 40th Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 16 December 1947, E/CN.4/SR.40, p. 13; Summary Record of the 67th Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/SR.67, 10 June 1948, 11; Summary Record of the 68th Meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/SR.68, 10 June 1948, 3, 6.
54 Summary Record of the 9th Meeting of the Working Group on the Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1947, E/CN.4/AC.2/SR.9, 2.
55 J.M. Burgers, ‘Rights and duties concerning creative expression, in particular in science’, in Human rights, Comments and appreciation, UNESCO/PHS/3(rev.), 25 July 1948, 215–20.
56 W.A. Noyes, ‘Science and the rights of man’, in Human rights, Comments and appreciation, UNESCO/PHS/3(rev.), 25 July 1948, 221–4.
57 Report submitted to the Commission on Human Rights, 6 December 1947, E/CN.4/52, 17. The proposal was endorsed without change by the Commission on Human Rights: Report of the Commission on Human Rights, Second Session, Geneva, 2 December to 17 December 1947, E/600, para. 35.
58 Report of the Second Session of the Economic and Social Council, 1–2 March 1948, E/RES/116 (VI) B, para. B(iii).
59 Note on implementation of Resolution E/RES/116 (VI) B, 9 May 1949, E/CN.4/173, 4–6.
60 Records of the General Conference of UNESCO, Fourth Session, 1949, 22.
61 Arthur Ramos, ‘The Question of Race and the Democratic World’, International Social Science Bulletin 1, no. (3–4) (1949): 1, at p. 10.
62 Committee of Experts on Race Problems, Implementation of the Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, 7 December 1949, UNESCO/SS/Conf.1/2.
63 See Frazier’s magnum opus, Black Bourgeoisie, New York: Macmillan, 1962. Also Anthony M. Platt, E. Franklin Frazier Reconsidered, New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers, 1991. For a critical assessment of the individual views of the Committee’s members, see Sebastían Gil-Riaño, ‘Relocating Anti-racist Science: The 1950 UNESCO Statement on Race and Economic Development in the Global South’, British Journal for the History of Science 51 (2018): 281.
64 UNESCO/SS/Conf.1/SR.1, 4.
65 Ibram X. Kendi, ‘Reigning Assimilationists and Defiant Black Power: The Struggle to Define and Regulate Racist Ideas’, in Keisha N. Blain, Christopher Cameron and Ashley D. Farmer, eds., New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition, Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2018, 157–73, at p. 162.
66 UNESCO/SS/Conf.1/SR.1, 7.
67 Ibid., 8.
68 For example, M.F. Ashley Montagu, ‘The Genetical Theory of Race, and Anthropological Method’, (1942) 44 (n.s.) American Anthropologist 369.
69 Michelle Brattain, ‘Race, Racism, and Antiracism: UNESCO and the Politics of Presenting Science to the Postwar Public’, American Historical Review 112 (2007): 1386, at p. 1393. See also Anthony Q. Hazard, ‘A Racialized Deconstruction? Ashley Montagu and the 1950 UNESCO Statement on Race’, Transforming Anthropology: Journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists 19 (2011): 174, and the chapter entitled ‘Ashley Montagu: The Negro Question and the Myth of Race’ in Anthony Q. Hazard, Boasians at War, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 59–100.
70 Ashley Montagu, Man’s Most Dangerous Myth, The Fallacy of Race, New York: Harper, 1942. For an assessment, see Anthony Q. Hazard, ‘Ashley Montagu, the “Most Dangerous Myth,” and the “Negro Question” during World War II’, Journal of Anthropological Research 72 (2016): 289.
71 UNESCO/SS/Conf.1/SR.3, 4.
72 Ibid.
73 For example, Adam Hochman, ‘Against the New Racial Naturalism’, Journal of Philosophy 110 (2013): 331, at p. 331.
74 ‘No Scientific Basis for Race Bias Found by World Panel of Experts’, New York Times, 18 July 1950, p 1.
75 Elazar Barkan, ‘The Politics of the Science of Race: Ashley Montagu and UNESCO’s Anti-racist Declarations’, in Racism and Other Misadventures, Essays in Honour of Ashley Montagu in his Ninetieth Year, ed. Larry T. Reynolds and Leonard Lieberman (Dix Halls, NY: General Hall, 1996), 97–105, at p. 97.
76 ‘No Biological Justification for Race Discrimination Say World Scientists’, Press Release 328, 18 July 1950, UNESCO Archives 323.12 A 102; ‘UNESCO on Race’, (1950) 50 (Oct.) Man 138.
77 Ashley Montagu, Statement on Race: An Extended Discussion in Plain Language of the UNESCO Statement by Experts on Race Problems, New York: Henry Schuman, 1951.
78 William B. Fagg, Letter to the editor, The Times, 24 July 1950.
79 For example, Henri V. Vallois, ‘UNESCO on Race’, (1951) 51 Man 15. See also Michelle Brattain, ‘Race, Racism, and Antiracism: UNESCO and the Politics of Presenting Science to the Postwar Public’, American Historical Review 112 (2007): 1386, at p. 1398. On the prevalence of racist views within the Royal Anthropological Institute, see Bradley S. Hart ‘Science, Politics, and Prejudice: The Dynamics and Significance of British Anthropology’s Failure to Confront Nazi Racial Ideology’, European History Quarterly 43 (2013): 301.
80 William C. Osman-Hill, ‘UNESCO on Race’, Man 51 (1951): 16, as was pointed out by Prof. Don J. Hager of Princeton University in a letter to Alfred Métraux, 21 January 1951, UNESCO Archives 323.12 A 102 (Part II). See also Hager’s reply to the letters by Osman-Hill and Vallois, ‘Race’, Man 51 (1951): 53.
81 ‘Note’, (1951) 51 Man 17.
82 Cedric Dover, ‘UNESCO on Race’, Eugenics Review 42 (1950): 177.
83 ‘UNESCO on Race’, (1950) 50 (Oct.) Man 138. See the assessment by Michael Banton, ‘The Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions of the Word Race’, Ethnicities 10 (2010): 127, at pp. 137–8.
84 Thomas D. Stewart, ‘Scientific Responsibility’, (1951) 9 (n.s.) American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1.
85 Bodet to Hager, 1 March 1951, UNESCO Archives 323.12 A 102 (Part II).
86 Perrin Selcer, ‘Beyond the Cephalic Index, Negotiating Politics to Produce UNESCO’s Scientific Statements on Race’, Current Anthropology 53 (2012): S173, at p. S174.
87 Michelle Brattain, ‘Race, Racism, and Antiracism: UNESCO and the Politics of Presenting Science to the Postwar Public’, American Historical Review 112 (2007):1386, at p. 1388.
88 Métraux to Fagg, 29 May 1951, UNESCO Archives 323.12 A 102/064(44)”51”.
89 Métraux to Whyte, 18 July 1951, UNESCO Archives 323.12 A 102 (Part II).
90 Cited in Harald Prins and Edgar Krebs, ‘Vers un monde sans mal : Alfred Métraux, un anthropologue à l’UNESCO (1946–1962)’, in 60 ans d’histoire de l’UNESCO, Paris: UNESCO, 2007, 115–25, at p. 121.
91 Jenny Bangham, ‘What Is Race? UNESCO, mass communication and human genetics in the early 1950s’, History of the Human Sciences 28 (2015): 80.
92 Alfred Métraux, ‘UNESCO and Anthropology’, (1951) 53 (n.s.) American Anthopologist 294. See Edgardo C. Krebs, ‘Popularizing Anthropology, Combating Racism: Alfred Métraux at The UNESCO Courier’, in The History of UNESCO, Global Actions and Impacts, ed. Poul Duedahl (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 29–48. On the Brazil study, see Marcos Chor Maio, ‘UNESCO and the Study of Race Relations in Brazil: Regional or National Issue?’, Latin American Research Review 36 (2001): 118; Marcos Chor Maio and Rosemary Galli, ‘Florestan Fernandes, Oracy Nogueira, and the UNESCO Project on Race Relations in São Paulo’, Latin American Perspectives 38 (2011): 136.
93 Proposals on the Biological Aspects of Race, Moscow, August 1964; Statement on Race and Racial Prejudice, Paris, September 1967, SHC/CS/122/8.
94 See Natan Lerner, ‘New Concepts in the UNESCO Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice’, Human Rights Quarterly 3 (1981): 48.
95 For example, Draft International Covenant on Human Rights, Prepared by the Drafting Committee, 28 June 1948, E/800, Annex B.
96 Report of the 5th session of the Commission on Human Rights to the Economic and Social Council, Lake Success, New York, 9 May-20 June 1949, 23 June 1949, E/1371, E/CN.4/350, Annex I. For the amendments, see Draft International Covenant on Human Rights: recapitulation of proposed additional articles for Part 2 of the draft Covenant, 10 June 1949, E/CN.4/313.
97 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Amendments to draft resolution I proposed by the Third Committee (A/1559), 1 December 1950, A/1576, para. 4(3).
98 Julian S. Huxley, Soviet Genetics and World Science: Lysenko and the Meaning of Heredity (London: Chatto and Windus, 1949), 196.
99 Bart J. Bok, ‘Freedom of science and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 5 (1949): 211, at p. 211. See also ‘The Scientist and Human Rights’, UNESCO Courier, December 1950, 9.
100 Ibid., 212.
101 Bart J. Bok, Liberté de la science, Paris: UNESCO, 1950.
102 Report submitted by the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Regulations concerning Economic and Social Rights in the International Covenant on Human Rights, 11 July 1950, E/1752, 45–6.
103 Ibid., 51.
104 Suggestions submitted by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 27 April 1951, E/CN.4/541/Rev.1, art. (d); Compilation of the proposals relating to economic, social and cultural rights, 27 April 1951, E/CN.4/AC.14/2/Add.4, 5.
105 Chile: Proposal on the right to education and cultural rights based on suggestions of UNESCO (E/CN.4/AC.14/2/Add.4 Section IV and E/CN.4/541/Rev.1), 7 May 1951, E/CN.4/613/Rev.l, art. 4.
106 Summary record of the 228th meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 7 May 1951, E/CN.4/SR.228, 11.
107 Ibid., 12.
108 Summary record of the 230th meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 7 May 1951, E/CN.4/SR.230, 7–8; Commission on Human Rights: report to the Economic and Social Council on the 7th session of the Commission, 16 April to 19 May 1951, E/1992, E/CN.4/640, para. 47.
109 Draft International Covenant on Human Rights and measures of implementation: Future work of the Commission on Human Rights, 4 December 1950, A/RES/421 (V), para. 7(a).
110 Verbatim record of the 317th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, 4 December 1950, A/PV.317, paras. 28 (United Kingdom), 33–34 (Australia), 84 (France), 123 (Lebanon).
111 Preparation of two Draft International Covenants on Human Rights, 5 February 1952, A/RES/543 (VI).
112 United States of America: amendment to article 30, 2 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.81.
113 Summary record of the 292nd meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/SR.292, 5.
114 Report of the Committee on Human Rights, 3 April 1952, 29 EX/49, 4.
115 Summary record of the 292nd meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/SR.292, 7.
116 Lebanon: Amendment to the amendment submitted. by the United States of America (E/CN.4/L.81), 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.105; Lebanon: Revised amendment to the amendment submitted. by the United States of America (E/CN.4/L.81), 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.105/Rev.1; Uruguay: Amendment to the amendment submitted. by the United States of America (E/CN.4/L.81), 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.106; Uruguay: Revised amendment to the amendment submitted. by the United States of America (E/CN.4/L.81), 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.106/Rev.1; Poland: Amendment to the amendment submitted. by the United States of America (E/CN.4/L.81), 13 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.107.
117 Summary record of the 293rd meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 14 May 1952, E/CN.4/SR.293, 8.
118 United States of America: amendment to article 30, 14 May 1952, E/CN.4/L.81/Rev.1.
119 Summary record of the 294th meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 14 May 1952, E/CN.4/SR.294, 5; Report to the Economic and Social Council on the eighth session of the Commission, held in New York, from 14 April to 14 June 1952, E/2256, E/CN.4/669, para. 127; Draft Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/2256, E/CN.4/669, Annex IA, p. 46; Draft Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, E/2573, E/CN.4/705, Annex IA, 64.
120 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Draft amendment to Article 30, 25 April 1952, E/CN.4/L.52.
121 Summary record of the 293rd meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, 14 May 1952, E/CN.4/SR.293, 6–7.
122 Report to the Economic and Social Council on the eighth session of the Commission, held in New York, from 14 April to 14 June 1952, E/2256, E/CN.4/669, paras. 126-127. Also Draft International Covenants on Human Rights, Annotation prepared by the Secretary-General, 1 July 1955, A/2929, 329, para. 53.
123 Summary record of the 796th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 31 October 1957, A/C.3/SR.796, para. 4.
124 Draft International Covenants on Human Rights: Czechoslovakia: amendments to article 16 of the draft Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/2573, Annex I), 28 October 1957, A/C.3/L.633.
125 Summary record of the 797th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 31 October 1957, A/C.3/SR.797, para. 3.
126 Summary record of the 796th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 31 October 1957, A/C.3/SR.796, para. 7.
127 Summary record of the 795th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 30 October 1957, A/C.3/SR.795, para. 7.
128 Ibid., referring to International cultural and scientific co-operation, A/RES/1043 (XI) and Report of the Economic and Social Council: further development of international co-operation in the field of science, technology, culture, education and tourism: Czechoslovakia: revised draft resolution, 9 October 1957, A/C.3/L.610/rev.2.
129 Summary record of the 795th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 30 October 1957, A/C.3/SR.795, para. 8.
130 Ibid., para. 10.
131 Report of the Third Committee, 5 December 1957, A/3764, para. 78.
132 Summary record of the 799th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 4 November 1957, A/C.3/SR.799, para. 36.
133 Draft International Covenants on Human Rights: Czechoslovakia: amendments to article 16 of the draft Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/2573, Annex I), 28 October 1957, A/C.3/L.633.
134 Ibid., para. 16. Later submitted as Saudi Arabia: amendment to the amendment submitted by Czechoslovakia (A/C.3/L.633), 31 October 1947, A/C.3/L.634; Saudi Arabia: revised amendment to the amendment submitted by Czechoslovakia (A/C.3/L.633), 31 October 1947, A/C.3/L.634/Rev.1.
135 Summary record of the 798th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 1 November 1957, A/C.3/SR.798, para. 27.
136 Summary record of the 799th meeting of the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 4 November 1957, A/C.3/SR.799, para. 36.
137 Proclamation of Tehran, in Final Act of the International Conference on Human Rights, Tehran, 22 April to 13 May 1968, A/CONF.32/41, para. 18.
138 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, A/CONF.157/23, I, para. 11.
139 General comment No. 25 (2020) on science and economic, social and cultural rights (article 15 (1) (b), (2), (3) and (4) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), 30 April 2020, E/C.12/GC/25, para. 6.
140 Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (1947) 4 UNTS 275, Recital 3 (emphasis added).
141 Patrick Petitjean, Vladimir Zharov, Gisbert Glaser, Jacques Richardson, Bruno de Padirac and Gail Archibald, eds., Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO 1945–2005, Paris: UNESCO, 2006, 523.
142 George M. Frederickson, ‘The rise and fall of the laboratory racist’, UNESCO Courier, September 2001, 21–3.
143 René Cassin, ‘Science and Human Rights’, Impact of Science on Society 22 (1972): 329.
144 Sebastian Porsdam Mann, Yvonne Donders, and Helle Porsdam, ‘Sleeping Beauty: The Human Right to Science’, Human Rights Quarterly 42 (2020): 332, at pp. 350–1.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
William A. Schabas
William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London, emeritus professor at Leiden University and the University of Galway, distinguished visiting faculty at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po and a door tenant at 9 Bedford Row. His new book, The International Legal Order’s Colour Line, appeared in 2023. Other recent publications include The Customary International Law of Human Rights and the published version of the course he delivered at the Hague Academy of International Law in January 2021 entitled Relationships between International Criminal Law and Other Branches of Public International Law. Professor Schabas is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.