War in Ukraine and the Violations of Academic Freedom

Please join the Program on U.S.-Russian Relations for a conversation with Dmitry Dubrovskiy. Moderated by Elise Giuliano.

War is always a source of widespread human rights violations. Since academic rights and freedoms are linked to human rights, the widespread violation of human rights inevitably leads to a breach of academic freedom. At the same time, the atrocities of the war affected academics, students, and academic institutions. Annexation or occupation of Ukrainian territories leads to a breach of the intellectual autonomy of educational institutions, forcibly restructuring them under the national system of the occupying country. Also, a separate issue in academic freedom is the pressure on Russian academia and direct repression against those trying to either resist or at least respond to this pressure. Finally, the scholars in exile’ academic freedom is also under dispute because of sanctions against Russian citizens in general.