Latest news with #ScholarsatRisk
Otago Daily Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Uni joins SAR to protect scholars
During times of war, academics often become targets and suffer grave threats to their lives and liberty. Schools and universities are often targeted, looted, burned or used for military purposes, and those who work there are harassed and censored because of the thoughts they share and the questions they ask. Eventually, many are forced to leave their country for their own safety. So the University of Otago has joined Scholars at Risk (SAR). SAR is an international network of higher education institutions and individuals, dedicated to protecting threatened scholars, preventing attacks on higher education, and promoting academic freedom and related values worldwide. University of Otago vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said the network's values aligned with Otago's — protecting scholars and promoting academic freedom. "In the world we live in today, we are all aware of significant conflicts and displacement of people. "This is a practical step the university can take to support those most impacted, to continue their academic study and research. "SAR provides support, among other things, for universities to provide a home for academics who are displaced or whose work is disrupted by conflict. "We join more than 300 host institutions across the world, committed to protecting and promoting academic freedom." Dunedin and the wider Otago community had a long history in welcoming individuals and families who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. "We are proud to do our part in supporting that." Alongside partnering with SAR, the university is also in the process of establishing scholarships for two undergraduate students and two doctoral candidates from conflict zones. College of Education dean Prof Vivienne Anderson has conducted substantial research on the experiences of students with refugee backgrounds, and said educated citizens played a critical role in the work of peace-building and the re-establishment of a stable civil society after conflict. "Supporting displaced scholars' ongoing access to education and academic engagement is both an ethical response to urgent human need and an investment in more peaceful global futures. "It is strategic and timely to actively support displaced scholars at a time when forced displacement is at the highest level since World War 2." Unesco refugee integration through education, languages and arts chairwoman and University of Glasgow languages and intercultural studies Prof Alison Phipps said news of the University of Otago's support for SAR was "immensely welcome". "I have witnessed the difference it makes to those who find protection for themselves, their families and their scholarship. "My respect, gratitude and solidarity to the university in taking this step and making such profound change possible. "Your gesture strengthens the work we are all doing to build sustainable peace."
Boston Globe
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
US scholar in Thailand jailed pending trial on charges of insulting the monarchy
He reported himself to the police Tuesday to formally acknowledge the charges and then was taken to Phitsanulok Provincial Court for a pretrial detention hearing, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal advocacy group. Advertisement It said the court approved the police request for pretrial detention and denied Chambers' initial application for release on bail, as well as a second later request. The legal aid group said another request to allow bail would be filed to an appeals court on Wednesday. No trial date has been set. The officer who answered the phone at the police station handling the case said he could not comment, and referred the matter to his chief, who did not answer a call to his phone. It is not unusual for Thai courts to deny bail in cases involving the offense of insulting the monarchy, which is also called lese majeste, and popularly known as '112' after its article number in the criminal code. Advertisement The U.S.-based academic freedom project Scholars at Risk said in a statement that Chambers in late 2024 made comments in a webinar about a restructuring of the military believed to be the cause of the complaint made against him by the 3rd Army Area, covering Thailand's northern region. 'State authorities should refrain from criminal investigations and other coercive legal action intended to restrict or retaliate against such conduct,' said the statement. The lese majeste law calls for three to 15 years imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent. Critics say it is among the harshest such laws anywhere and has been used to punish critics of the government and institutions such as the military. The monarchy has long been considered a pillar of Thai society and criticism of it used to be strictly taboo. Conservative Thais, especially in the military and courts, still consider it untouchable. However, public debate on the topic has in the past decade grown louder, particularly among young people, and student-led pro-democracy protests starting in 2020, began openly criticizing the institution. That led to vigorous prosecutions under the previously little-used law. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights has said that since early 2020, more than 270 people — many of them student activists — have been charged with violating the lese majeste law.
