The proposed hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights seeks to launch a new phase of regional dialogue on the implementation of the Inter-American Principles in response to the growing attacks on academic freedom and university autonomy across the region.
The Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), together with the University of Monterrey (UDEM), the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa, and Scholars at Risk (SAR), has submitted a request for a thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy and to promote a new regional phase focused on their effective implementation.
The proposed hearing, entitled “Five Years of the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy: Progress, Challenges, and Strategies for Their Implementation in the Americas,” aims to create a regional forum to discuss the progress made since the Principles were adopted, the persistent threats to academic freedom, and the strategies needed to strengthen its protection throughout the Americas.
Adopted by the IACHR in 2021, the Inter-American Principles are the first international instrument to explicitly recognize academic freedom as an autonomous yet interdependent human right that is essential to the exercise of other fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and the right to education. The Principles also affirm that academic freedom has individual, institutional, and collective dimensions related to the production, teaching, dissemination, and public accessibility of knowledge.
Putting the Principles into Action
Five years after their adoption, CAFA emphasizes that the central challenge is no longer the formal recognition of academic freedom, but rather the creation of the institutional, legal, and public policy conditions necessary to ensure its effective implementation throughout the region.
The hearing request acknowledges important progress in several countries across the Americas, including court decisions and university initiatives that reflect the Inter-American Principles. At the same time, it highlights the persistence and increasing sophistication of threats to academic freedom, including attacks on university autonomy, persecution of members of the academic community, restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful protest, science denialism, gender-based violence, and other forms of discrimination.
According to CAFA, these violations affect not only individuals and institutions, but also undermine the conditions necessary for the production and dissemination of knowledge, scientific research, diversity of perspectives, and democratic participation.
The Coalition believes that the fifth anniversary of the Principles represents a strategic opportunity to advance a new phase of regional cooperation, strengthen monitoring of their implementation, and identify good practices that will help consolidate academic freedom and university autonomy as essential pillars of democracy, the right to education, the right to science, and human rights throughout the Americas.
Since its creation, CAFA has carried out research, awareness-raising campaigns, political dialogue initiatives, and training programs to promote the implementation of the Inter-American Principles.
Read the full hearing request (Spanish version): Five Years of the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy: Progress, Challenges, and Strategies for Their Implementation in the Americas.