Abstract
Unilateral coercive international political, diplomatic, and economic sanctions are regular events of international relations and international law within the landscape of foreign affairs. However, while they may be prescribed by international law, or national legal systems, for peace and security reasons they have also been imposed for political grounds by powerful States such as the United States. The US sanctions are now targeting science, academic and university domains. When applied in this way, these sanctions violate international law, principles of human rights, ethics, the autonomy of scientific institutions, and the norm of universalism in science. All of which protect and promote scientific freedom of expression. It is vital that international and domestic law be correctly applied to uphold proper ethical standards and scientific independence in order to protect the work and the freedom of scholarship. In this way, law is the solution, rather than the problem.
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Notes
Under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council may impose economic sanctions on states to maintain the peace and security of the world. For a list of the UN Security Council imposed sanctions see, United Nations Security Council: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/information. Accessed 25 May 2021.
For a list of the US sanctions against different countries including Iran see, U.S Department of the Treasury (2021): https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/office-of-foreign-assets-control-sanctions-programs-and-information. Accessed 25 May 2021.
BBC New (21 May 2018), US vows 'strongest sanctions in history' on Iran, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44200621. Accessed 25 May 2021.
International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (Pub. L. No. 95-223, 91 Stat. 1626.4 50 U.S.C. § 1701(a)).
Emails are filed with the second author of this piece.
The first and the only woman ever awarded the prestigious Field prize, the late Maryam Mirzakhany (1977–2017) was a graduate of the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. See Rafi, K. Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017). Nature 549, 32 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/549032a.
Sanctions on scientific publication (2004).
UDHR, Art. 27(1).
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 15 (1)(b).
Organization of American States, article 38; the Charter of the African Union, article II (2); European Charter of Fundamental Rights Article 13.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2542 (XXIV) of 11 December 1969.
United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, A/HRC/20/26, 14 May 2020, 4.
United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, A/HRC/20/26, 14 May 2020, 74 (f).
Article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties provide: ‘A state is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when: (a) it has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, until it shall have made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty…’.
UNESCO 2009, Venice Statement on the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications, Article 14 (c). http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001855/185558e.pdf.
Above note 16 article 14(d).
The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations: Institutionalized Patterns of Evaluation in Science 469.
UNESCO (2009).
See the text accompanied above note (7).
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Emeritus Professor Kathy Mack and MS Jenny Richards for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
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Esmaeili, H., Ataie-Ashtiani, B. The Autonomy of Science as a Civilian Casualty of Economic Warfare: Inadvertent Censorship of Science Resulting from Unilateral Economic Sanctions. Sci Eng Ethics 27, 49 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00321-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00321-w