Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education and coalitions, including CAFA-CLAA, meet at the UN to discuss attacks and progress in strengthening academic freedom
“One of my very favorite phrases in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is ‘the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.’ And for me, academic and practical freedom lies at the very heart of knowledge creation, artistic expression, and everything else that goes with it,” said Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, at the start of her presentation at the side event held on the margins of the 59th Session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, on June 24.
Under the title “Regional Approaches to Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom”, the meeting brought together voices from diverse regions on academic freedom, including Camilla Croso, Director of the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA-CLAA); Bencharat Sae Chua, Director of the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom; Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Director of the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom; and Jesse Levine, Senior Advocacy Officer at Scholars at Risk, to reflect on the challenges and strategies to guarantee academic freedom in the world.
Academic freedom under attack
The Special Rapporteur explained that her recent report addressed the alarming global rise in violations of academic freedom, affecting learners, educators, and researchers who are silenced, penalized, or deprived of resources due to their work, ideas, or public engagement. These violations include cyberattacks, imprisonment, funding cuts, closure of publications, and administrative measures such as job insecurity, blocked promotions, and elimination of certain subjects. She stressed that such attacks threaten democracy, creativity, and the public good, much like assaults on free media and civil society.
According to the 2024 Academic Freedom Index, academic freedom is worsening in 23 countries and improving in only 10, with over half of the world’s population living under severe restrictions. Scholars at Risk’s annual Free to Think report further underlines the challenges facing scholars, students, and institutions of higher education. The 2024 Free to Think report details 391 separate attacks across 51 countries highlighting, concerning trends across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Four pillars of academic freedom
Farida Shaheed emphasized the importance of normative and regional approaches to implementing academic freedom, noting that it is not explicitly named in international treaties but is grounded in various legal provisions. She called for its constitutional recognition as an autonomous right applicable to all levels of education for educators, researchers, and students.
For her, academic freedom means the ability to access, produce, and share knowledge freely, engage with diverse perspectives inside and outside academia, and uphold four core pillars: the right to teach, to engage in debates, to conduct research, and to disseminate results without fear.
“I think academic freedom to me is the freedom to access, disseminate and produce information. To think freely is to develop, express, apply and engage with the diversity of knowledge. It is within or related to one’s field of expertise or field of study, regardless of whether it takes place inside or outside the academic community inside or outside”, said.
Frameworks on academic freedom to strengthen democracy and education
In response to the attacks on academic freedom and with the aim of strengthening democracy and the human right to education, regional coalitions have emerged, such as Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas, in 2021, to promote networking, advocacy, research, monitoring, and the development of protective frameworks. Such frameworks, like the Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom and the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy, define what academic freedom entails, identify rights holders and duty bearers, and adapt protections to regional contexts, demonstrating its universality.
Camilla Croso emphasized the importance of raising public awareness, rigorous research and monitoring, collective action for support and advocacy, and pushing education institutions to develop their own academic freedom policies and protocols to provide a strong legal framework to advocate for national legislation and recognize academic freedom as an essential pillar of democracy.
“In the Americas, the approval of the Interamerican Principles for Academic Freedom and University Autonomy by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights in 2021 represents a landmark and is a unique advancement of our Continent. In fact, Latin America has a historic trajectory in this regard, considering the Cordoba Reform of 1918, pushed by students who called for greater university autonomy, academic freedom and participation of students in decision making”, said Camilla Croso.
Five challenges to strengthen academic freedom in the Americas
During her presentation, Camilla Croso highlighted five challenges that the Americas face regarding academic freedom:
- Violations of pedagogical autonomy (such as curriculum control), physical autonomy (such as militarization of schools and occupation of police forces), governance (such as interference in leadership appointments), and financial autonomy (such as the defunding of education and research).
- Precarious employment contracts undermining job security and freedom.
- Commodification of education allowing market forces to dictate legitimate knowledge.
- Religious interference, especially rising evangelical influence affecting education policies and communities.
- Attacks on gender and race studies and studies on climate, among others.