“All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that none of CERN’s collaborators becomes directly or indirectly complicit in terrorist and military campaigns in the Middle East.” This is the conclusion of an appeal signed by hundreds of scientists at CERN in Geneva, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, who are calling on the governing bodies (Council and Directorate) to review their scientific collaboration with Israel, a member state of the institution since 2014, due to the ongoing massacre in Gaza and the illegal occupation of the West Bank. So far the petition (the English text is available here ) has been signed by 828 of the 12,406 internal researchers , of whom 77 have chosen anonymity , plus another 298 academics from around the world, for a total of 1,126 scholars. Based on an opinion requested from two Italian professors of international law, Alessandra Annoni and Luigi Daniele, the document calls for"all current and future partners located in Israel – including companies and academic and research institutions – to demonstrate a clear commitment to reject any form of collaboration with Israeli authorities, institutions, or companies that contributes, directly or indirectly, to the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory or other serious violations of international law, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity." If a partner fails to respect these commitments,"CERN should suspend all forms of institutional collaboration."
The signatories recall that "CERN's Code of Conduct obliges collaborators to 'behave ethically, with intellectual honesty and to take responsibility for their actions. We believe," they write,"that this extends to Member States, implying that being part of CERN requires respect for international law, international institutions and above all human rights." The appeal cites a resolution adopted by the CERN Council on March 8, 2022, a few days after Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which stated that"aggression against one country by another is contrary to the values of the organization." "This principle," the 1,126 researchers emphasize,"is even more relevant when the aggression is perpetrated by a state recognized as an illegal occupying power by the International Court of Justice. As scientists," the appeal continues,"we cannot tolerate that the current state of war imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinians, in addition to the unacceptable price in terms of lives and affront to human dignity, also compromises the peaceful collaboration of Israeli scientists and Palestinians among themselves and with the rest of the community."
