The European International Studies Association (EISA) Governing Board feels compelled to issue this statement in response to ongoing global events and to the events unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank under the world’s eyes.
As a scholarly association the EISA has, up until now, restricted itself to speaking out and lending our collective voice to those issues that directly concern academic freedom and the safety of our colleagues everywhere. However, academic freedom does not exist in a vacuum. Academic freedom and our ability to work on scholarship concerned with international relations, broadly defined, can only freely function within a wider world committed to upholding and respecting the universal humanity of all. There are those amongst our members whose research and teaching draws attention to periods of our collective history where the lack of respect for human dignity and the human rights of all have led to atrocity crimes against those whose humanity has been denied. The EISA condemns such actions and reaffirms the importance of human rights obligations. Academics have an important role bearing witness and speaking out on what is happening in the contemporary world – though their voices are being drowned like those of journalists and humanitarians. Universities have a crucial role protecting the academic freedom of those who speak out and who seek the just pursuit of knowledge about such topics as human rights and genocide.
With this statement the EISA strongly and unequivocally confirms its commitment to the humanity of all and the importance of conversations that seek to uphold it. The EISA recognizes that human rights are the rights of all. The EISA will continue to mobilize its resources to stand by and support colleagues who are directly and indirectly affected.
