AIA reconsiders human rights – please thank them!

Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility

Feb 24, 2016 — Good news! The AIA National Ethics Council has told ADPSR that they will (re)consider our proposal to prohibit the design of execution chambers and spaces intended for torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. This is big progress from 2014, when AIA rejected ADPSR’s proposal, but a new turn for the National Ethics Council, which had never considered the proposal before (previously, it was just the AIA Board of Directors). We salute AIA’s 2015 and 2016 Presidents for taking another look at this vitally important issue. Since AIA’s rejection, two more medical professional associations — this time, of pharmacists — have told their members not to participate in executions, and the United Nations has adopted new human rights rules for the treatment of prisoners specifically barring the kind of solitary confinement routinely practiced across the United States. This makes 2016 the right time for AIA to update its position, too.

As a signer of this petition, we need you to reinforce this message by thanking AIA for their reconsideration and encouraging them to take a strong stand for human rights! Please sign our open letter here: https://www.change.org/p/american-institute-of-architects-ban-design-for-killing-or-torture
and of course, share this with your friends, family, and colleagues. Thank you!

Architects / Designers / Planners for Social Responsibility