UN Expert report exposes UK Universities support for Genocide

London - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly has urged universities worldwide to respect Palestinian protests and specifically called out UK universities' repression of student activists. This comes after an increase in the infringement of the right to protest across campuses since October 2023. 
 
Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly, has directly written to the London School of Economics (LSE ), expressing concern over the university’s decision to pursue disciplinary action against students who participated in peaceful protests in solidarity with Palestine and to call for divestment. 
 
The LSE , the first British university to evict a pro-Palestine encampment in June 2024, is currently pursuing disciplinary action against seven student protestors. 
 
In the past year, the criminalisation of pro-Palestinian student activists has been widespread across university campuses in the UK. Students have been targeted by Zionist groups and supporters in concerted smear campaigns, with minimal or no support from universities. On the contrary universities have doubled down on oppressive measures against students with encampment evictions, disciplinary actions and threatening letters from lawyers. 
 
The double standards and hypocrisy of the treatment of pro-Palestinian students is exemplified by the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson's recent announcement of the launch of a new series of measures to protect Jewish students and "upskill teachers and university staff to tackle antisemitism" to the tune of £7 million. This action mirrors the support of the UK government for the genocidal apartheid Israeli regime in its supply of arms and intelligence cooperation.

Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE International said:
“International bodies are recognising the extent to which British universities are oppressing and targeting their own students who advocate for Palestine. We’ve seen the weaponisation of counter-extremism measures, such as PREVENT, to disrupt student activism on campus for demanding institutions divest from genocide.”

“British Universities, far from being bastions of free speech, have been exposed as actively supporting genocide. The intervention by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly is a major indictment of British higher education’s commitment to the values it claims to uphold.”

CC Image courtesy of Alisdare Hickson on Flickr