announcement of the Organizing Committe of Massive Stars on the travel ban issued by US president D. Trump



Recent executive order by the President of the United States suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, and blocked entry to the U.S. for at least 90 days for citizens of seven countries. IAU is intrinsically an international organization comprising of citizens from every corner of the globe regardless of their national origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientations. Thus, such a ban impacts our activities directly and goes counter to our core beliefs. The organizing committee of the IAU massive stars commission discussed the situation. The IAU supports the International Council for Science (ICSU) rules on Freedom, Responsibility and Universality of Science, that include the freedom of movement. To deny participation in a meeting because of nationality, political or religious beliefs are in breach of the ICSU Principle of the Universality of Science, and all member states are expected to abide by this principle.

For this reason, the organizing committee of the IAU massive stars commission believes the IAU should temporarily suspend all IAU sponsored meetings in the USA and, if the order remains in effect in the future, cancel them all. Moreover, we think that new IAU sponsored meetings should not be approved while the order is in effect. Although holding other non-IAU sponsored astronomical meetings are left to individual organizing committees, we urge everyone to uphold the principle of Universality of Science. If it is at stake, consider appropriate actions, including the cancellation of the meeting.

The Organizing Committee of the IAU Massive Stars Commission
Artemio Herrero (president), Jorick Vink (vice-president), Nicole St.-Louis (Secretary), You-Hua Chu, Jose Groh, Gregor Rauw, Asif ud-Doula

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Email: ahd@iac.es