The past twelve-month period has been a very active one for CIFS, with issues and cases of human rights violations arising in many parts of the world. While China unfortunately continued to draw much of our attention, it was by no means the only country where problems came up. The highlights of our activities are summarized below. D.C. Interactions Between CIFS and CISA Considerable discussions were held during the past period between members of CIFS and CISA on the fate of the MOU signed by the APS and the Chinese Physical Society on October 13, 1994.
Ideas are in the air to perhaps replace it by a broader multilateral Pacific rim initiative.
Further discussions will be held between CIFS and CISA at a meeting in Chicago on November 2, 1996. Irving Lerch has also announced that there will be a meeting of six major physical societies and five regional societies in October 1997 where the issue of such a Pacific rim initiative might be promoted. CIFS strongly recommends that whatever broader initiative is ultimately implemented, a clause supporting the respect for human rights towards all scientists in the countries signing this agreement, be included explicitly in the official document. A petition on behalf of about forty Chinese scientists and students who allegedly have disappeared or have been imprisoned and mistreated was issued by CIFS, and signature drives were undertaken at the APS March and May meetings as well as on-line on the World Wide Web. Over 400 signatures were collected.