Working Group on Human Rights and Academic Freedom

The Working Group on Human Rights and Academic Freedom has been constituted following a selection procedure carried out by the executive committee. The group’s aims are to monitor violations of, and gather evidence on academic freedom and human rights violations, to initiate policies accordingly, to create structures of support: guidelines for universities, “best practices” on academic freedom, and to organise events on academic freedom. The group will offer a space to discuss these issues within EASA and will foster a culture of academic freedom in our association and more broadly in Europe.

The Working Group on Human Rights and Academic Freedom acts as an advisory body to EASA’s Executive Committee and to:

1. Examine the growing restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and within European universities.
2. Formulate suggestions to address the restrictions on academic freedom in Europe and within European universities.
3. Examine cases of academics, students and academic collectives who face reprisals and/or attacks for publicly sharing their anthropological analysis of colonialism and structural violence.
4. Propose a mechanism through which such cases can be addressed by EASA.
5. Suggest ways to address the situation of Palestinian and Israeli academics and students in Europe and the Middle East who speak up against state violence and censorship, and suffer punitive consequences for their actions.
6. Draft recommendations in response to these issues.