Higher education plays an important role in promoting freedom and democracy. However, this will not be achieved unless the professors and lecturers have the freedom to do their job. To support these scholars, the UAF has launched a project which is based on the activities of the American based organisation Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network of more than 200 universities and colleges spread throughout 26 countries. SAR supports academic freedom and defends the human rights of the scholars by providing sanctuary for professors and researchers and other academics who suffer threats in their home countries.
“All over the world, scholars are threatened, their research is censured, they get persecuted or even killed,” says Robert Quinn, Director of the SAR. “Our goal is to promote the academic freedom for the individual scholars and their well being by providing them a safe working place.”
All universities and scientific institutes can participate in this project. Up to eleven Dutch universities have already announced their intention to take part. Together with the UAF, they will focus on supporting scientists and researchers whose lives are in danger. Every year, ten threatened scholars will get a temporary place at one of these universities. Candidates will be selected on the basis of their scientific achievements and the degree of danger in which they live.
“Changes in societies often begin at universities,” says Robbert Dijkgraaf, President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. “One example is Iran, where universities have become the centers for freedom movements. So to promote freedom and democracy in these countries, we must support their scholars and intellectuals.”
“We must make sure that the scholars in the foreign countries are able to do their work”, says Sebastiaan Kortman, Vice-Chancellor of the Radboud University. “The project of the UAF is fortified by our universities. In this way we can be alert and learn how to protect our colleagues who are in danger. Many Dutch people do not know that in some countries scholars are threatened or jailed because of their work.”
One of the guests at the conference was the Bengal writer and medical doctor Taslima Nasrin who has become a symbol for the freedom of speech and the equal rights for women in her country. Through her writings, she promotes the women’s rights in Islamic countries. Her criticism of Mohammed, the Koran and Islam led to mass protests by Muslims. “Muslim fundamentalists became violent towards me, so I didn’t feel safe in my country anymore. It went so far that I was forced to leave,” says Taslima. After years spent in exile in Europe, she lived in India the last couple of years. “I felt at home in India and wanted to stay there forever. But I had to leave again because Muslim fundamentalists had put a price on my head.” With support of SAR, she received a temporary place at an American university and moved to the United States.
“Academic freedom is crucial for our social and cultural development,” says Ruud Lubbers, Chair of the UAF. “By participating in this project, you will become more conscious about the world. We have the moral task to protect the threatened scholars so that they can do their work.”
A full report of the launch in PDF format
The video on the lauch