On June 24 expert of our Association, Dr. Borys Babin took online participation in side-event “Regional Approaches to Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom,” held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on the margins of the 59th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Side event was organized by “Scholars at Risk” with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Professor Farida Shaheed, with whom our Association communicated earlier for her Reports’ preparation.
The event was co-sponsored by governments of Colombia, Portugal and by the European Union, and key speakers were Dr. Camilla Croso, Dr. Bencharat Sae Chua and Dr. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Directors of the African, American and Asian Coalitions for Academic Freedom.
Participants stressed that the right of academic freedom is essential to safeguarding and passing on cultures of research, teaching, inquiry and expression that support rights-respecting societies. During the event professor Babin, also as PhD Yana Tytska initiated discussion on challenges for academic freedom and right to science on examples of Russian aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories, including the Crimea.
So events’ speakers summarized that for the past two decades, academic freedom has been in decline and continues to be under attack in all corners of the globe today, given the widespread nature of these attacks, an equally robust response is needed to reverse these trends, one that engages with both global efforts, such as the Principles for Implementing the Right to Academic Freedom, and with regional efforts, including the establishment of regional coalitions for academic freedom.
