Asia-Pacific Network: 3 September 1998
EDUCATION: OPEN LETTER FOR SENATOR BOLE
New Zealand's Association of University Staff has protested to both Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Information Minister Filipe Bole over the harassment of journalism academics David Robie and Ingrid Leary. It has also pointed out that Fiji will be a signatory to the United Nations Recommendation on the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel, which guarantees academic research and publication freedom from government interference.
Senator Filipe Bole
Fax: 679 302585
Dear Senator,
I am writing on behalf of university staff in New Zealand in defence
of David Robie and Ingrid Leary, both of whom have come under attack
in recent days.
I wish to draw your attention (and that of your government) to the
fact that the issue of academic freedom is involved and we view very
seriously attacks on that freedom. I note that the University of the
South Pacific recognises the academic freedom rights of the staff
concerned.
I also wish to point out that as a member of UNESCO, Fiji will be a
signatory to the Recommendation on the Status of Higher Education
Teaching Personnel, which was adopted by UNESCO in November 1997.
The following clauses of the recommendation are relevant to this
situation:
VI. Rights and freedoms of higher-education teaching personnel
A. Individual rights and freedoms: civil rights, academic freedom,
publication rights, and the international exchange of information
25. Access to the higher education academic profession should be based
solely on appropriate academic qualifications, competence and
experience and be equal for all members of society without any
discrimination.
26. Higher-education teaching personnel, like all other groups and
individuals, should enjoy those internationally recognized civil,
political, social and cultural rights applicable to all citizens.
Therefore, all higher-education teaching personnel should enjoy
freedom of thought, conscience, religion, expression, assembly and
association as well as the right to liberty and security of the person
and liberty of movement. They should not be hindered or impeded in
exercising their civil rights as citizens, including the right to
contribute to social change through freely expressing their opinion of
state policies and of policies affecting higher education. They should
not suffer any penalties simply because of the exercise of such
rights. Higher-education teaching personnel should not be subject to
arbitrary arrest or detention, nor to torture, nor to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment. In cases of gross violation of their rights,
higher-education teaching personnel should have the right to appeal to
the relevant national, regional or international bodies such as the
agencies of the United Nations, and organizations representing
higher-education teaching personnel should extend full support in such
cases.
27. The maintaining of the above international standards should be
upheld in the interest of higher education internationally and within
the country. To do so, the principle of academic freedom should be
scrupulously observed. Higher-education teaching personnel are
entitled to the maintaining of academic freedom, that is to say, the
right, without constriction by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of
teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and
disseminating and publishing the results thereof, freedom to express
freely their opinion about the institution or system in which they
work, freedom from institutional censorship and freedom to
participate in professional or representative academic bodies. All
higher-education teaching personnel should have the right to fulfil
their functions without discrimination of any kind and without fear
of repression by the state or any other source. Higher-education
teaching personnel can effectively do justice to this principle if
the environment in which they operate is conducive, which requires a
democratic atmosphere; hence the challenge for all of developing a
democratic society.
28. Higher-education teaching personnel have the right to teach
without any interference, subject to accepted professional principles
including professional responsibility and intellectual rigour with
regard to standards and methods of teaching. Higher-education teaching
personnel should not be forced to instruct against their own best
knowledge and conscience or be forced to use curricula and methods
contrary to national and international human rights standards.
Higher-education teaching personnel should play a significant role in
determining the curriculum.
29. Higher-education teaching personnel have a right to carry out
research work without any interference, or any suppression, in
accordance with their professional responsibility and subject to
nationally and internationally recognized professional principles of
intellectual rigour, scientific inquiry and research ethics. They
should also have the right to publish and communicate the conclusions
of the research of which they are authors or co-authors, as stated in
paragraph 12 of this Recommendation.
30. Higher-education teaching personnel have a right to undertake
professional activities outside of their employment, particularly
those that enhance their professional skills or allow for the
application of knowledge to the problems of the community, provided
such activities do not interfere with their primary commitments to
their home institutions in accordance with institutional policies and
regulations or national laws and practice where they exist.
I urge you therefore to respect the rights of the two academic staff
members concerned and allow them to conduct their academic business
without discrimination of any kind and without fear of repression by
the State. It is vital to the future of the University of the South
Pacific that Pacific Island Governments understand the concept of
academic freedom and to ensure that their interactions with the
University and its staff are moderated accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Rob Crozier
Minister of Information
Suva
Fiji
Executive Director
Rob Crozier
Executive Director, AUSNZ