We call on Governments:
- to promote the General Comment No. 25 (2020) on science and economic, social and cultural rights (article 15 (1) (b), (2), (3) and (4) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) as a guide for the full enjoyment of the Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Scientific Progress and its Applications;
- to dedicate a specific section on science-related issues during their Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human Right Council as well as in their periodic reports to the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR);
- To ratify the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR that recognizes the competence of the CESCR to receive and consider communications as provided for by the provisions of the protocol;
- to adopt all necessary legislation to fully respect their international human rights obligations concerning the enjoyment of human rights and, in particular, the duty to respect, protect, fulfill, and promote the right to science;
- to support, also financially, the scientific enterprise at the national, regional and international level that is gender inclusive;
- to promote an open access to scientific literature, discoveries and developments in a transparent manner consistently with local and global interests and needs, both public and private;
- to promote and protect scientific culture and education, including humanities, at the national level, also through international cooperative projects with particular attention to low and medium income countries;
- to dedicate significant resources to promote science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and to integrate them with the arts (STEaM) across the wider educational curriculum with particular attention to girls, women and groups with special needs;
- to limit the regulation of research only insofar as it may violate human rights, and the regulations of limitations to the enjoyment of human rights recognized in international law, the right to privacy included;
- to initiate the necessary procedure to establish the position of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Science to assist Member States in their normative efforts to promote and protect such right, and to monitor science-related concerns and developments globally;
- to consider the right “of” and “to” science as THE theme for the general debate of a future session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
- [for Member States of the Council of Europe] to amend the European Convention on Human Rights so as to include a clear mention to the “right to science” along the lines of all other major international human rights instruments.