[TYPES] ETAPS bars Russian researchers from attending

[Gabriel Scherer]

Do people know of any precedent of a conference forbidding people working
in a certain country to attend?

(Of course, on a regular basis we hold conferences in countries that make
it difficult for some of our colleagues to attend. But this sounds very
different from the conference itself forbidding certain researchers from
attending on the basis of their country of employment.)


On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 7:33 PM Neel Krishnaswami <
neelakantan.krishnaswami at gmail.com> wrote:

> [ The Types Forum, http://lists.seas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/types-list
> ]
>
> The ETAPS website (
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.etaps.org__;!!IBzWLUs!HUevd2N5Ms-2WYC1sMdH93ef4xxRy4BjZ9KD0I8SPwLGGpv-Rk7u_Emgl9qMMyLGK4ex90o0Cm0$
> ) has the following text on its
> front page:
>
> > The ETAPS association strongly condemns the war against Ukraine
> > launched by President Putin. It is an intolerable breach of
> > international law and a crime against humanity, unfolding in Europe
> > now. Therefore, until further notice, ETAPS 2022 cannot accept
> > registrations from affiliates of Russian research institutions or
> > companies.
>
> While I'm as opposed to illegal wars of aggression as anyone else, this
> feels like a serious mistake.
>
> There are many Russians (such as Jetbrains corporation) who have taken
> the serious personal risk of publically opposing the war, and barring
> them from our conferences due to their nationality feels wrong to me.
>
> It may well be that the financial sanctions regime means that
> registration payments cannot be accepted, but that is quite different
> from barring them personally.
>
> What do the rest of you think?
>
> Best,
> Neel
>