Public Note #7 – In defense of scientific and research institutions

The Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights goes public to speak out in defense of research and scientific institutions.

The outcome of the crisis generated by the attack from the President of the Republic against the National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – Inpe, in Portuguese), which concluded with the resignation of its director, Ricardo Galvão, targets a great scientist and undermines the credibility of one of the most renowned and indispensable research bodies in Brazil. Quite fairly, Galvão described Bolsonaro’s attack against Inpe as “pusillanimous and cowardly”.

A few weeks ago, the Minister of Health attacked the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a century-old institution whose research on public health and tropical diseases benefits Brazilians and the whole of humanity.

Other attacks devoid of well-founded arguments and, therefore, pusillanimous and cowardly, have been perpetrated by the President of the Republic and his ministers against national science and research.

This attack reflects a deliberate government policy aimed at depriving Brazilians of the fundamental right to essential information for the exercise of citizenship. It is not just the sciences that are threatened: it is democracy itself and the national interest that are at stake.