Global Campus Open Knowledge Repository

Our Open Knowledge Repository is a digital service that collects, preserves, and distributes all digital materials resulting from the rich and varied production of the Global Campus of Human Rights. It is an ever growing collection which aims to give visibility to our research outputs, educational content, and multimedia materials; sustain open access for knowledge transfer; and foster communication within and beyond academia.

 

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Recent Submissions

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Curated 8.5
(Global Campus of Human Rights, 2026-07-20) Ćosović, Una; Estela Grado, Yasmine
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Upholding the right to academic freedom in Central Asia: Policy directions for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
(Global Campus of Human Rights, 2026) Tenizbaeva, Akylai
Academic freedom in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan remains structurally constrained despite higher education reforms and stated ambitions to build knowledge-based economies. Universities across the region continue to operate with limited institutional autonomy, formally established but inconsistently applied legal protections and informal mechanisms of control that foster self-censorship among scholars. Politically sensitive fields – particularly in the social sciences and humanities – are subject to monitoring, exclusion from curricula or indirect pressure through funding, publishing and personnel decisions. High-profile cases of academic repression illustrate how routine scholarly activity can be reframed as a security or loyalty issue, generating a chilling effect that extends well beyond individual incidents. This policy brief argues that safeguarding academic freedom is a legal obligation grounded in international human rights law and a practical prerequisite for innovation, effective governance and sustainable development. Empirical research demonstrates a strong correlation between academic freedom and innovation outputs, while comparative evidence shows that tightly controlled academic systems undermine policy capacity and international credibility. The brief evaluates policy trajectories and finds that relying solely on piecemeal reforms is insufficient. Incremental changes have produced limited openings but remain fragile, reversible and unevenly implemented. The analysis advances a set of evidence-based recommendations aimed at ensuring the effective implementation and protection of academic freedom in law and practice, strengthening institutional autonomy, limiting security-sector involvement to clearly defined thresholds, protecting academic expression and ensuring public accountability. Implemented collectively, these measures can help Central Asian states reconcile stability concerns with the need for independent knowledge production, enabling universities to contribute meaningfully to national development and societal resilience.
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Censorship at the intersection of academic freedom and freedom of thought, conscience and religion in Vietnam
(2026) Nguyen, Minh
This policy brief focuses on censorship policies from Communist countries, with a particular focus on Vietnam, which affect academic freedom and freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Shaped by a political framework rooted in Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought, Vietnam’s expression environment remains one of the most tightly controlled in Southeast Asia. The country's one‑party state maintains extensive control over public discourse, academic sphere and inquiry, and religious life. It heavily censors university-related publications, especially related to sensitive religious issues. At the same time, online publications, diaspora distribution and independent publishers have sought to challenge state censorship, prompting a heavy crackdown from the government. While the 2013 Constitution recognises everyone’s right to conduct scientific or technological research, or literary or artistic creation, freedom of expression and freedom of belief and religion, these rights are systematically restricted through a combination of legal instruments, ideological control and self-censorship. Using the art of ‘governmentality’, the Vietnam Communist Party has controlled academics, students and religious people through a diverse, often non-coercive set of techniques. It encourages people to self-regulate and adjust to its ideology. Academic institutions remain under its strict oversight, with curricula, research topics and publications subject to political vetting. Religious studies, history, political science and sociology are particularly censored when they intersect with sensitive topics such as history, freedom of thought, consciences or indigenous religious relations. Scholars, activists and religious leaders who challenge state narratives face harassment, dismissal, arrest or imprisonment. By undertaking a human rights perspective, this policy brief addresses how censorship at the intersection of academic freedom and freedom of thought, conscience and religion is not merely a series of isolated violations, but a systemic pattern rooted in the state’s political architecture. The central theme of this paper is the politics of state-led vernacularisation processes, where the government normalises the idea that universities, academics and religious leaders need to be self-censored, and the government maintains the absolute authority to censor or ban any forms of research, books and even religious teachings. The brief calls for a shift toward a human rights-based governance framework for academic and religious regulation, grounded in international legal obligations and the nine principles articulated by the UN Working Group on Academic Freedom.
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