The members of the INGV Board of Directors (BoD) are dismayed by what is happening in the various areas of the world afflicted by bloody wars and unjustified aggression against human life.
The serious humanitarian, political and military crisis strangling the Middle East, in particular the conflict between Israel and Palestine, has caused and continues to cause victims, suffering, human rights violations and irreparable damage to the cultural and environmental heritage of the region.
INGV is a public research body that operates in compliance with the principles of autonomy, freedom and scientific responsibility; in compliance with the constitutional provisions and its founding law, the INGV aims to promote the development of knowledge of the Earth.
The INGV Board of Directors recognizes the value of international cooperation and scientific diplomacy as tools to promote dialogue, understanding, conflict resolution and building peace between peoples.
The evaluation of opinions and choices on such fundamental and delicate issues as the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine and Africa pertains to the individual sphere and personal political choices. However, the INGV Board of Directors expresses its solidarity with all the innocent victims of the conflict and supports the request for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages in every nation, and to resume negotiations for a peaceful and lasting solution, based on international law and United Nations resolutions, which guarantees the security, recognition and self-determination of both parties.
The INGV Board of Directors does not support the boycott against scientific institutions, considering it a priority to maintain relations with the academic and research world, regardless of the nation to which it belongs, using the instrument of scientific diplomacy to support the peace process, also starting from collaborations with my Israeli and Palestinian colleagues.
The INGV Board of Directors rejects the military use of research, in line with the approaches of scientific diplomacy as a contribution to the peace process.
Science has no borders, rather it breaks them down, it unites: researchers from all over the world dedicate their existence to improving the lives of everyone, in any nation.
As Luigi Cavalli Sforza demonstrated, on Earth there is only one human species, there are no different races, that solidarity of and between peoples is a possible and useful achievement for everyone. Ukrainians, Russians, Israelis, Palestinians, Congolese: everyone has the right to be recognized, respected and live in peace.
Quoting John Lennon: “Imagine all the people living life in peace... and the world will live as one”.
