Dear GAC-EPA Members,
The ‘Groupement des Anciens du CERN et de l’ESO’ cannot remain insensitive to the conflict and humanitarian situation in the Middle East.
Like many around the world, the GAC-EPA is observing with growing concern the humanitarian consequences of this conflict, with millions of civilians, the majority of whom are children, deprived of water, healthcare and food and exposed to extreme violence.
Unable to remain silent in the light of these conditions, the Staff Association sent a letter to the Director-General and the President of the Council, which was published in Echo 459 on 2 October 2025 (https://staff-association.web.cern.ch/sites/default/files/Echo/2025/459.pdf).
Our Group naturally supports and endorses the Association’s approach and emphasises in particular CERN’s primary objective, which is science in the service of peace and humanity.
For its part, the GAC-EPA recalls that, in its resolution CERN/3626 of 8 March 2022, the CERN Council stated that ‘the aggression of one country by another is contrary to the values that the Organisation defends’. We believe it is legitimate to apply this same requirement for consistency to any situation involving flagrant violations of international humanitarian law.
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Laverrière, Chair of the GAC-EPA
