Unity of Scientists in the Divisive World: For Truth, Peace & Human Rights

Growing divisions undermine public trust in science, threaten collaboration and put scientists in jeopardy. International relations are increasingly adversarial amidst political convenience and shift towards propaganda. In the era of social media, the spread of untruths and falsehoods is virtually unhinged. We observe investigations, indictments, and arrests of scientists under the auspices of the struggle against "economic espionage" in the United States. Scientists in Russia are increasingly prosecuted for alleged "treason", "misuse of grants" or political views. Use of heavy-handed "police tactics" against scientists is gravely misplaced and will cause long-term damage in every nation that has practiced it. Criminalization of scientific cooperation damages scientific progress. These processes are general and involve overarching government regulation and control along with attacks of populists and in some cases fanatics against professionals. We need to remember Andrey Sakharov who stated in his Nobel Lecture "Peace, progress, human rights - these three goals are inextricably linked, it is impossible to achieve any one of them, neglecting others". As a scientific community, we must stand above our group interests and national borders and unite globally in pursuit of the stated goals. The indifference and silence are not an option. Every unfairly arrested scientist in any country must be a focus of attention of all. We should call for intergovernmental agreements with "bona fide" code of conduct for international collaboration of scientists: transparency, no research duplication, and intellectual property protection. We must speak to each other and jointly fight populism, anti-intellectualism, and untruths in science-related matters. We need an International Academic Council for Peace, Human Rights, Cooperation and Global Security to coordinate our activities and improve understanding.