ICSU and IUPAP

Freedom of travel for scientists was raised as an important issue at two recent international meetings. The 11th General Assembly of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, which was convened last September in Warsaw, expressed concern about the matter, and a formal resolution was adopted requesting that the International Council of Scientific Unions encourage its national members to promote exit and entry visas for all scientists attending international scientific conferences. It was further suggested that ICSU ask the United Nations to promote such freedom of movement. Two months later, at the November meeting of the ICSU General Assembly in Vienna, the Council passed a resolution of its own, and also created a special committee to consider the problem in detail. The resolution pledged that ICSU would take “all measures within its powers to insure the fundamental right of participation, without any political discrimination, of the representatives of every member organization of the ICSU concerned and of invited observers” at council and committee meetings.