Farida Shaheed draws attention to the set of Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom, calling for its endorsement and implementation
In her new report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed defends that academic freedom must be taken as an autonomous human right. The report addresses the right to academic freedom from the perspective of the right to education, showing the urgency of overcoming multi-facetted violations against it. The definition of academic freedom as a human right was previously highlighted in the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy, approved by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights in 2021.
As she argues, academic freedom comprises four interdependent pillars: the right to teach, to engage freely in discussions and debates inside (including in classrooms) and outside the academic community, to conduct research, and to disseminate opinions and research results. “Educators can only foster critical thinking and provide diverse perspectives if they, themselves, enjoy academic freedom, while upholding the principles of pluralism, respect for others, and the pursuit of knowledge”, says the report.
Moreover, States and other stakeholders are invited to review the concept of “neutrality of teaching,” against the right to academic freedom. The Special Rapporteur stresses that
(…) “education must be free of propaganda and must always imply a focus on the free development and exercise of critical thinking, which is at the core of the right to learn. While the concept of neutrality in teaching is often viewed as a guarantee against religious, political or other kind of indoctrination, it can also, reversely, become a medium of indoctrination. It can prevent a diversity of views to be expressed in education and impede the development of critical spirit in students.”
Based on a questionnaire distributed widely, which received 120 responses, as well as online consultations that followed an experts’ consultation organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in October 2023 in Geneva, Shaheed also presents some of the most serious threats to academic freedom worldwide. These violations are understood as multi-facetted, and include practices such as “overly strict legal restrictions; targeted violence against students and academics; arrest, detention, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killing and trial in military courts of those exercising academic freedom; attacks against institutional autonomy; the physical presence and/or interventions of security forces on university campuses; the engagement of students as a source of threat to academics; disruptions of Internet and telecommunications services; travel restrictions; and the exclusion of students from scholarships. One fallout is self-censorship which is difficult to assess”.
The Special Rapporteur calls for the endorsement and enactment of the Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom, drafted by a working group of United Nations experts, scholars, and civil society actors, based on and reflecting the status of international law and practice.
Consultations in the Americas
In the context of the ongoing consultations for the Report on Academic Freedom, as well as of the Special Rapporteur visit to the United States, CAFA hosted Farida Shaheed for a dialogue with scholars and members of civil society from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the United States and Venezuela, to discuss the challenges to protect, respect and guarantee academic freedom in the hemisphere. Also, Scholars at Risk (SAR) and CAFA, in partnership with the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, hosted a roundtable discussion in Washington DC, in the context of the official visit of the Special Rapporteur to the United States, in April 2024.
Furthermore, in February 2024, CAFA and Scholars at Risk filed a joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur Farida Shaheed, reviewing legal protections for academic freedom in the United States – and their limitations – and detailing recent challenges to academic freedom and freedom of expression in educational institutions. Also, CAFA members held a conversation with Shaheed about challenges to academic freedom.
History
In 2020, David Kaye, in his mandate as UN Special Rapporteur, published his report on Academic Freedom and the Freedom of Opinion and Expression, paving the way for further in depth conceptual and practical discussions around academic freedom. Inspired by his report, a group of organizations, movements, scholars and UN agencies came together to form the Academic Freedom Working Group, which for two years worked to develop the Principles for the Implementation of Academic Freedom. This inspired, among other things, 70 States to deliver a Joint Statement on academic freedom to the Human Rights Council, in 2023, calling for enhanced international cooperation towards its strengthening. Farida Shaheed report is another accomplishment in these agenda for the full realization of academic freedom and other rights.
Click here to download the report (English only).
More: “Academic Freedom Just as Crucial as a Free Press or Independent Judiciary, Says UN Expert”. Watch the UN Office at Geneva recording of the launching of this report: