Diplomats at the U.N. Security Council committed to more systematically boost the role of science in decision-making about international peace and security.
At the end of a briefing on Monday, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis read aloud a council presidential statement agreeing "to take into account scientific advances more systematically, where appropriate, and in line with its mandate, in as far as their impact on international peace and security is concerned."
The statement also says the council "acknowledges that scientific developments must be consistent with international law, including the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter." Presidential statements summarize the 15-nation council's viewpoint toward an issue or need for action, but are less formal than resolutions.
Experts told the council that emerging science and technologies can play a crucial role in maintaining – or destabilizing – international peace and security, and it is important to try to anticipate the impacts beforehand.
Among those testifying before the council were Swiss neurosurgeon Jocelyne Bloch and French neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine, whose groundbreaking work in Lausanne is helping paralyzed patients walk more naturally again with the help of digital bridges that use implants for the brain and spinal cord to communicate.
"What was science fiction ten or fifteen years ago is about to become our new reality," said Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who chaired the high-level briefing. Switzerland holds the council's revolving presidency for the month.
"We are obliged to look at global dynamics through the prism of science," he told the council, "because its rapid acceleration will have a profound impact on all aspects of our lives, including peace and security."
Cassis recommended that the U.N. secretary-general regularly inform the council of scientific advances and their potential impacts on peace, either through an annual briefing or in his thematic reports set out in the council's agenda.
Dorothy Shea, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N., called the meeting "a recognition of how dependent our societies have become on science and technology."
She said the council has an important duty to protect that technology, but it is important to note that technology also can infringe on human rights.
"Authoritarian regimes are co-opting technology to censor, surveil, or repress their citizens – including by restricting Internet connectivity and spreading disinformation online," she said. "It is vital that we confront these abuses."
Nexus between science and peace operations
The promotion of science diplomacy as a tool for solving complex 21st global challenges is a signature issue for Switzerland during its two-year stint on the U.N.'s most powerful panel.
Switzerland was elected last year to hold one of the council's 10 temporary seats; five other seats, each with veto power, are permanently held by China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, reflecting a power structure frozen in time since the end of World War II.
Cassis, a medical doctor and one of Switzerland's seven elected federal councilors who each oversee a government agency and collectively govern the country, has strongly promoted anticipatory science and diplomacy.
He was one of the Swiss and Geneva leaders who co-founded the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Foundation, or GESDA, in 2019. It creates initiatives based on a yearly summit and report on science trends.
Science diplomacy is practiced at institutions like the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, which was founded in 1954 and has 22 member nations, and the International Space Station.
"Switzerland is convinced that the Security Council must continue to pay attention to scientific issues. It must rely on high-quality experts and tools, such as GESDA, that are already available," said Cassis. "The council must also consider the impact of these advances on peace operations."
