As part of the APSA Guide to Professional Ethics in Political Science, the APSA Committee on Professional Ethics, Rights, and Freedoms will become involved in cases involving the human rights of scholars in other countries brought to its attention by reputable sources. All requests for action are first cross-checked through the Clearinghouse on Science and Human Rights of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Committee will respond to cases of human rights violations involving scholars whose fields correspond to those subsumed under the phrase "political science" in the United States. It will also take up cases that do not directly involve political scientists but have broad implications for all social scientists.

Given the limited time and resources of the Committee, it will consider only what appear to be the most egregious cases of human rights violations (the Committee will take up no more than six cases at a time). The standard to be used in making this choice is the International Declaration of Human Rights and the two accompanying covenants.

The procedure the Committee follows in human rights cases is to write a letter of inquiry to the appropriate authorities and to follow up this letter with subsequent letters, if necessary. Other activities such as visits to embassies and site visits may also be considered by the Committee.

For more information, contact Dr. Jeffrey Biggs.

Recent Public APSA Statements On the Rights of Political Scienctists