The resolution affirms that scholars and students must be free to pursue, discover, and disseminate knowledge and ideas under the full protection of international human rights law
The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Resolution A/HRC/RES/59/9 on the right to education, placing unprecedented emphasis on the protection of academic freedom.The resolution, announced on July 7, 2025, during the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, was the result of a negotiation process led by Portugal and expresses “deep concern” over increasing restrictions on academic freedom worldwide. It underscores that academic freedom, at all levels of education, both within and beyond the academic community, is central to scientific progress and to knowledge as a public and common good. It affirms that scholars and students must be free to pursue, discover, and disseminate knowledge and ideas under the full protection of international human rights law.
The document emphasizes that “academic freedom, at all levels of education, inside and outside the academic community, is at the heart of scientific progress and contributes to building knowledge as a public and common good, and that individuals, as members of academic communities or in their own pursuits, should be free to conduct activities involving the discovery and transmission of knowledge and ideas, and to do so with the full protection of human rights law, and stressing further the role of higher education as an essential part of the right to education”.
“The resolution of the Human Rights Council’s reference to academic freedom strengthens its acknowledgement as both an autonomous right and a key element of the right to education. It paves the way for greater prominence in policies and processes related to the SDGs, particularly SDG4, as well as concrete protocols and practices for its implementation”, said Camilla Croso, Director of the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA-CLAA)
Normative frameworks: fundamental for the consolidation of academic freedom as a universal human right
According to the 2024 report of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) academic freedom is declining in 23 countries and improving in only 10. Over half of the world’s population, 56.5%, now live in environments where academic freedom is either completely or severely restricted. Scholars at Risk’s annual Free to Think report further underlines the challenges facing scholars, students, and institutions of higher education.
In this context, one of the advances in reversing these trends and strengthening protections, is the consolidation of academic freedom understood as a fundamental human right, essential to safeguarding and passing on cultures of research, teaching, inquiry and expression. Also of key importance is the strategic setting up of academic freedom coalitions worldwide, including the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), founded in 2021.
Global and regional approaches to academic freedom
Frameworks on academic freedom are particularly important for articulating fundamental values and for providing guidance on how best to protect them. While specific articles may differ from one instrument to another, they address what is academic freedom, what it requires for its implementation and, who are the rights holders, among others dimensions. Existing examples include the Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom at the global level and the InterAmerican Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy at the regional level.
Regional frameworks, in particular, are critical for localizing protection commitments and adapting them to regional experiences, histories, and human rights mechanisms. The development and implementation of these regional frameworks can benefit from the support of the entire global community, including by providing the financial and political support necessary to ensure that this human right is fully mplemented.
In the Americas, the InterAmerican Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy at the regional level is a milestone in terms of normative frameworks. Reaffirming the need to ensure in the hemisphere respect for and full enjoyment of individual freedoms and the fundamental rights of all people through the rule of law, and considering the importance of promoting standards to strengthen the protection and guarantee of academic freedom in the Americas, the document has 16 principles ranging from scope of protection of Academic Freedom to topics such as non-discrimination, internet and other technologies, right to education, protectión of international mobility and duty of implementation.