EHF at the annual congress of the Luca Coscioni Association for the freedom of scientific research

Photo: Nick Youngson – http://nyphotographic.com/

The annual congress of the EHF member organization the Associazione Luca Coscioni per la Libertà di Ricerca Scientifica (Association for the freedom of scientific research) took place at the Molecular Biotechnology Centre of the University of Turin, with the intervention of many prominent scientists, researchers,  philosophers and legal scholars.

In its conclusions, the congress reaffirmed that:

strengthening the “right to science” – freedom of scientific research and the right to take advantage of most recent discoveries – must more and more become a pillar of our legal and constitutional systems and also an antidote against the illiberal tendencies existing in our democracies.

The Congress also pleaded for the approval by the Italian Parliament of the bills currently under discussion concerning the full recognition of living will , the availability of supernumerary embryos for medical and scientific research, th free use of therapeutic cannabis and the recognition of full citizenship for the children of immigrants who were born or made their studies in Italy; and, in perspective, for the recognition of voluntary euthanasia and the implementation of antiprohibitionist policies. A World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research will take place at the initiative of the Coscioni association at the European Parliament on April 11th to 13th 2018.

Addressing the Congress, EHF president Giulio Ercolessi thanked the Coscioni association for its contributions to freedom of scientific research and to human rights and for its recently acquired membership of EHF, and pleaded for an ever closer cooperation in the European and international organizations where both EHF and the Coscioni association are active with similar or identical purposes.