The Human Rights Responsibilities of Professional Associations

Session Submission Type: Virtual Roundtable

Session Description

This roundtable will provide an opportunity for a critical examination of the responsibilities of professional associations, as organs of society, to uphold fundamental human rights norms. This is a broad issue area that includes, among other things, codes of conduct, advocacy campaigns, the issuing of statements on critical public policy issues, and the mechanisms that are/should be in place to hold members accountable in cases in which their conduct violates the said norms.
In this context, George Andreopoulos will critically discuss the entry points generated by the growing corpus of international human rights law in quest of non-state actor accountability and the guidance that these can offer in addressing the corresponding challenges. Alison Renteln will examine the range of issues included in the revised version of APSA’s Ethics Guide and, in particular, the need to balance concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion with academic freedom. This is part of an ongoing conversation on the need to revisit ethical principles that guide learned societies and professional associations continually to keep up with significant changes in our value system. Margaret Vitullo will consider the degree of alignment between ASA’s mission and advocacy for human rights, the organizational resources that ASA could potentially bring to bear to advance human rights, and the degree to which it has done so. Three examples of ASA working for the advancement of human rights will be discussed, including: establishing the section on Sociology and Human Rights, contributing to the definition of the right to science, and applying for consultative status with the United Nations. Edward Liebow will focus on AAA’s evolving perspective on Anthropology and Human Rights. The AAA has issued three comprehensive statements on this issue. In the first (1947), the AAA was highly critical of the UN’s project to make a universal declaration of human rights an important part of the postwar global order. In 1999, an updated Declaration took a radically different stance toward human rights, offering a defense of human difference and insisting on the discipline’s and Association’s ethical responsibility to “protest and oppose” when such differences are the basis for violence and abuse. Most recently, the 2020 Statement moves beyond the tension between universalism and relativism to help orient anthropological research and practice in a world of seemingly intractable violence, inequality, injustice, and asymmetrical power. Steven Smith will review APSA’s policies with regards to upholding human rights norms, including an Ethics Guide, a code of conduct, and sexual harassment policy; the issuing of public statements in defense of human rights at home and abroad; and advocacy efforts for the protection of academic freedom. Last, but not least, James Grossman will speak on AHA’s initiatives in such areas as professional standards, academic freedom, access to archives, history education, the centrality of history to public culture and the issuing of public statements.

Sub Unit

• Division 45: Human Rights

Chair

• George J. Andreopoulos CUNY- John Jay College and the Graduate Center

Presenters

• George J. Andreopoulos CUNY- John Jay College and the Graduate Center

• Alison Dundes Renteln University of Southern California

• Steven Rathgeb Smith American Political Science Association

• Edward Liebow American Anthropological Association

• James R. Grossman American Historical Association

• Margaret Weigers Vitullo American Sociological Association