SAR and SAR Europe issue urgent appeals for Afghanistan’s scholars, students, practitioners, civil society leaders, and activists

Posted: 26-08-2021 03:15 | Views: 912

SAR and SAR Europe issue urgent appeals for Afghanistan’s scholars, students, practitioners, civil society leaders, and activists

Scholars at Risk (SAR), in partnership with 115 higher education institutions, associations, networks, and over 2,600 professionals and students concerned about colleagues in Afghanistan, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him and government officials to take immediate action to help save Afghanistan’s scholars, students, and civil society actors.

In the letter, SAR requests immediate action from the US Department of State and relevant USG departments and agencies to:

Continue evacuation flights for as long as possible so as to include scholars, students, and civil society actors.
Include SIV, P1, and P2 candidates among those evacuated by US forces and their agents for relocation, temporarily to third countries at least, ideally for transit to the US as early as possible.
Advise all US and ally embassies and consulates wherever they are located to receive and process SIV, P1, and P2 applications and facilitate entry to the US or a third country as rapidly as possible.
Create a priority processing pathway for those candidates who demonstrate an existing partner, host institution, job, or sponsor, including for families, that would facilitate their arrival and earliest adjustment.
As for scholars and researchers in particular, waive the intent-to-return and home residency requirements on US J visa applications for Afghan nationals for the foreseeable future.
Establish a dedicated funding stream for scholars, students, and civil society actors from Afghanistan, including men and especially women and ethnic and religious minorities, to undertake study, fellowships, lectureships, researcher positions, or temporary academic positions at US higher education institutions.

Read and Sign the Letter »

Together with 56 organizations and networks, SAR Europe issued an additional appeal to European Governments and the European Union to take similar actions, including:

Continue evacuation flights for as long as possible so as to include scholars, students, and civil society actors.
Increase resettlement quotas to help those in need of international protection, including researchers, scholars, and civil society actors.
Create expedited complementary legal pathways for candidates who demonstrate an existing host institution, job, or sponsor in Europe.
Waive any intent-to-return and home residency requirements that may apply to visa applications for Afghan scholars and researchers for the foreseeable future.
Establish a dedicated EU fellowship scheme for researchers and scholars at risk
Establish dedicated national fellowships for researchers and scholars at risk.

If you wish to add your endorsement, please send your organization's logo and name to sareurope@mu.ie. Read the appeal.

Join SAR's Response »

SAR joins 16 leading human rights groups to call for the release of imprisoned Bahraini academic, Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace

SAR joined 16 leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, in calling for the release of jailed Bahraini academic, blogger, and human rights defender Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace.

August 18 marked Dr. Al-Singace’s 42nd day of a hunger strike protesting ill-treatment in prison. He has lost nearly 40 pounds since beginning his hunger strike and was taken to Kanoo Medical Center to be kept under observation. Dr. Al-Singace has also reported that prison guards assigned to his room have harassed him, denied him regular family visits, and cut short telephone calls with family members.

Read the full statement here.

Take Action »

Take more action through SAR's Scholars-in-Prison Project, Student Advocacy Seminars, and Legal Clinics.

Attacks on Higher Education

RUSSIA: Government blacklists American college

Bard College, Russia, 6/21
The Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office announced the designation of Bard College, a liberal arts college in New York, as an “undesirable foreign organization.”

SRI LANKA: Police clash with student protesters

General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University, Sri Lanka, 6/21
Police violently clashed with students during a protest over proposed legislation concerning the management of General Sir John Kotelawala National Defence University.

EGYPT: Authorities bar scholar from travel

University of Washington, Egypt, 5/24
Egyptian authorities barred Walid Salem, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington and an Egyptian citizen, from traveling to the United States to resume his studies.

BRAZIL: Attorney General files criminal complaint over professor’s speech

University of São Paulo, Brazil, 5/20
Brazil’s Attorney General of the Republic of Brazil filed a criminal complaint against Dr. Conrado Hübner Mendes, a legal scholar at the University of São Paulo, in apparent retaliation for public comments Mendes made that were critical of him.

BRAZIL: Attorney General presses university to investigate professor for critical expression

University of São Paulo, Brazil, 5/3
Brazil’s Attorney General of the Republic of Brazil filed a complaint with the University of São Paulo’s ethics committee demanding an investigation into law professor Conrado Hübner Mendes over public comments he made about the AG over social media and in a column for the newspaper, Folha de São Paulo.

AFGHANISTAN: Gunmen shoot and kill university professor

Islamic University of Kabul, Afghanistan 5/1
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mahmoud al-Rahman, a professor at the Islamic University in Kabul. The killing coincided with growing insecurity in the country, as the United States prepared to withdraw troops and Taliban forces began expanding their presence.

UNITED STATES: College places professor on leave for class discussion

Cypress College, United States, 4/30
Cypress College placed Faryha Salim, an adjunct professor in communications, on administrative leave following an exchange with a student who gave a presentation on “cancel culture” and policing in the United States. Salim was also subjected to violent threats.

SOUTH AFRICA: Police throw stun grenades at student protesters

University of the Free State, South Africa, 3/11
Video footage shows police throwing stun grenades at close range against students participating in a protest at the University of the Free State. Police reportedly beat one student, who was later hospitalized as a result. Police arrested 24 students for blocking the road.

BELARUS: Police arrest student trade union members

Various, Belarus, 3/5
Police arrested thirty students and other attendees at a meeting of a student trade union in Minsk. Several members of the union had participated in nationwide demonstrations protesting the August 2020 election results.

Learn more about SAR's Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, which identifies and tracks attacks on higher education communities in order to protect vulnerable individuals, promote accountability, and prevent future attacks.

Academic Freedom in the News

SINGAPORE: Groundbreaking Singapore academic freedom survey finds constraints
Joyce Lau, Times Higher Education, 8/18
A majority of academics in Singapore acknowledge that scholars in the city-state are “subject to interference or incentivized to self-censor at least occasionally,” even if their own research is not affected, according to the Academic Freedom Survey 2021, published by scholars’ collective AcademiaSG.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong Police Arrest Students Over ‘Advocating Terrorism’
Tiffany May, The New York Times, 8/18
Four leaders of the University of Hong Kong Student Union have been arrested by Hong Kong police. The students were arrested on suspicion of “advocating terrorism,” after issuing a statement memorializing a man who stabbed a police officer and then killed himself. The union has been de-recognized by the University of Hong Kong, and its leaders were barred from campus.

AFGHANISTAN: Fear for the Future
Elizabeth Redden, Inside Higher Ed, 8/17
The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban has raised fears about access to education, especially for women and girls. SAR’s founding Executive Director, Robert Quinn, tells Inside Higher Ed of an urgent need to "press the U.S. government...to keep the evacuation window open as long as possible,” in order to evacuate at-risk Afghans, including scholars and civil society actors.

Sign up for SAR's Academic Freedom Media Review, a weekly digest of news, essays, and other media pertaining to academic freedom and higher education communities around the world.

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