The HRC was founded in 2001 and includes members of the Leopoldina from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The HRC joined the IHRN in 2003. The Secretariat of the network is based at the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington D.C.

As a member of the IHRN, the HRC supports scientists and their lawyers all over the world who are subject to repression and human rights violations, mostly by addressing letters to high-ranking state officials and, to a lesser degree, by prison visits.

The HRC regularly organizes the symposium “Human Rights and Science”, where human rights considerations and bioethical issues in science are discussed, as well as cases of scientists who have suffered human rights violations.

Members of the HRC

• Prof. Dr. Horst Aspöck ML,  Vienna (Austria)
• Prof. Dr. Jutta Gärtner ML, Göttingen, HRC Chair
• Prof. Dr. Bruno Gottstein ML, Bern (Switzerland)
• Prof. Dr. Ursula Klein ML, Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Brigitte Tag ML, Zurich (Switzerland)
• Prof. Dr. Gereon Wolters ML, Constance

ML: Member of the Leopoldina