Le message suivant nous a été transmis par Hilary Rose.
Dear friends –
Urgent action is needed as there is public consultation on the EU2020 Strategy ( European Research Policy for next Framework Programme) to be launched by President Barroso on 24 November. BUT THE CUT OFF DATE IS 15 January 2010
this action will take you only a few minutes!
EU public consultations seem not be designed to consult the public. It provides an opportunity to us as researchers to comment not on the general proposals in Barroso’s vision of Europe, but on very precisely on Europe’s glaring failure in its research ethics, ie the continued inclusion of Israel in the European Research Area (broader than the EU).
Israel is both a research powerhouse and has been condemned for its war crimes and breaches of Human Rights, most recently in the attack on Gaza. It is therefore vulnerable to pressure from the research community in a way that nations with lesser research status are not. As you will know initially the European Parliament tried to block ERA membership to Israel, but the political drift to the right has led to the EU shamefully ignoring its own foundational commitment to Human Rights. The issue of research collaboration was shelved as it was too hot just after Gaza but the Europe has abandoned its foundational Human Rights commitment
What you can do:
open the link and follow the links within it to where you are entitled as a citizen to comment.
On p5 of the Barroso document there is a section entitled ‘Creating value by basing growth on knowledge.’
The section goes on to say:
‘An efficient effective and well resourced European Research Area is an indispensible part of the EU 20/20 vision.’
Possible comment along the lines:
Research without ethics, research without respect for fundamental human rights, cannot and must not be part of any vision for the future of the EU. Inclusion within the ERA of countries, such as Israel, who do no respect those rights, and who are in breach of international human rights conventions is unacceptable.
Best wishes,
Hilary Rose
Version française : http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/eu2020/consultation_fr.htm