As an impact-driven civic university, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) habitually engages with societal partners and is a party to agreements and contracts on academic and business activities, both nationally and internationally. In a substantial number of cases, these collaborations take place in a context of sensitive debates and conflicts or circumstances where human rights are under pressure.
Provisional Advice - Collaboration with institutions in Israel and Palestine.
The Advisory Committee for Sensitive Collaborations (ACSC) has been requested by the EUR Executive Board to advise on collaborations between EUR and institutional partners in Israel and Palestine in light of the violence and the potential for human rights violations in Gaza, Palestine and Israel.
The committee has started to map the existing and intended student exchange programs, research cooperations and business contracts with entities based in Israel and in Palestine. Initial results show that formalized collaborations include student exchange programs and bilateral and multilateral research collaborations (mostly in the medical field) with universities in Israel and Palestine, and business contracts with companies that are based and/or active in Israel and/or Palestine. The committee will in the upcoming months analyze in more depth each of these partnerships, based on the Framework governing the work of the committee, leading to a concrete advice for each collaboration partner.
Because of the urgency of the matter, the committee considers that there is an immediate need for provisional advice on these collaborations, to offer interim guidance to the university regarding these partnerships. While the final advice will be based on an assessment of the risk level for each partnership, this provisional advice cannot be specific for each separate collaboration. Also, the advice is limited to institutional collaboration, meaning collaboration that is based on formal decisions made by actors (at EUR and/or at partner institutions) with institutional responsibility. Collaboration between individual academics is exempt from the advice.
Considerations
- Notwithstanding different perspectives, interpretations, and political viewpoints, it is at least clear that there is currently a situation of armed conflict in Israel-Palestine and uncertainty on when and how this conflict will end.
- Based on the preliminary rulings of the International Court of Justice and broadly supported by international opinions, the committee considers that there are serious indications of human rights violations in the situation of Israel-Palestine.
- In this context, specific risks of harm now exist to academic and other institutions, as well as to the staff, students, and wider communities involved in and affected by these collaborations. These risks of harm include, inter alia, safety risks, knowledge security, academic freedom, reputational risks and the risk of becoming complicit in or subject to human rights violations.
- The committee recognises that the position of existing or intended academic institutional partners in Israel is different from those in Palestine, especially considering the grave damage to the academic sector in Gaza. The recommendations described below are explicitly not intended to prevent efforts at supporting the rebuilding of the academic ecosystem in Gaza.
These considerations lead to the following conclusion:
The committee deems it important to immediately apply the precautionary principle on the university's collaborations with its partner institutions: when there is risk of serious harm, effective and proportional action to prevent or abate the harm must be taken, including when there is uncertainty regarding the cause, extent and/or probability of the potential harm.
Until the committee completes its thorough identification and assessment of the various formalized partnerships, current and new collaborations should be approached with caution, by observing at least the following recommendations.
Recommendations
- Regarding travel, the university is advised to suspend all outgoing student or staff mobility to Israel and/or Palestine as part of existing exchange or research collaboration programs.
- Regarding institutional collaboration with academic partners, the university is advised to apply a moratorium on all new institutional research and exchange collaborations with partners in Israel and Palestine unless the specific new collaboration is assessed by ACSC and approved by the Executive Board or the Dean of the Faculty involved in the collaboration.
- Regarding institutional collaboration with business partners, the university is advised to ask relevant existing and new collaboration partners to share a Human Rights Impact Assessment with special attention to the situation in Israel and Palestine and to report the outcome of that assessment to the ACSC. ‘Relevant’ means that there is at least a potential risk of harm as indicated in consideration 3.
- Regarding individual collaboration with institutional partners, individual academics are advised not to engage in such collaboration, unless the collaboration with that partner is approved by the Dean based on advice by the ACSC. This type of collaboration includes, inter alia, participation in PhD supervision or assessment and recruitment procedures, and editorships for journals governed by universities implied in this assessment procedure.
- Regarding individual, non-institutional collaboration with individual academics, the committee gives no formal advice, as was mentioned in the introduction, but leaves this to the discretion of the individual academic. This type of collaboration includes conducting collaborative research without institutional contracts or funding, like writing a joint paper.
Further steps
- The committee will continue its assessment of existing institutional collaborations with academic partners in Israel and Palestine and develop more specific guidance.
- If doubt arises about the implementation of the abovementioned recommendations, faculties can reach out to the ACSC. Given the fact that Erasmus MC is a separate legal entity, the applicability and implementation for Erasmus MC will require further decision by Erasmus MC.
- If the university or faculties decide to take further steps based on these or future recommendations by the ACSC, they are advised to carefully consider legal and contractual obligations.
Rotterdam, 23-08-2024
News
Sensitive collaborations
The university and individual academics need to assess these partnerships in a comprehensive manner, including at least issues of risk to human rights, ethics, (knowledge) security, and reputation. This is not just a matter of risk management, but also of responsible science, “recognizing its benefits and possible harms” (Statute of the International Science Council).
Advisory Committee
To facilitate this assessment, the Executive Board of EUR establishes the Advisory Committee Sensitive Collaborations (ACSC). The crucial question for this assessment is not whether (intended) partners fully share the values, principles and other elements of EUR policies and the assessment framework, but whether EUR scholars and the university as a whole can remain true to these values and policies when engaging in these partnerships. The issue at stake is whether the institutional values and integrity may be compromised through collaboration with partners.
The purpose of this committee is to assess whether collaborations may infringe upon EUR institutional values, with the aim that, in as much as is reasonably possible, EUR activities are undertaken in a way that protects and promotes human rights and the university’s Erasmian values.
Please note that the committee offers advice on specific collaborations or on sensitive contexts and topics when requested by the Executive Board or a faculty dean. The committee is an advisory body. Decisions on the continuation, starting or stopping collaboration with partners are taken by the Executive Board in consultation with the deans.
Mandate of the ACSC
The ACSC has been set up by the Board of Erasmus University in such a way as to enable the Committee to operate in an autonomous and impartial manner while maintaining an adequate level of accountability to the Board. The ACSC operates and offers advice within its mandate as described in the framework (see below).
Composition of the ACSC
The ACSC consists of three permanent members and two ad hoc members. The members of the ACSC have been selected based on their complementary expertise. All Committee members act in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any specific interest group. The diversity of their backgrounds in combination with the fact that they draft their advice(s) based on consensus, provides for the necessary balance.
The permanent members
Prof.dr. Ruard GanzevoortChair
Rector of the International Institute of Social Studies, Professor of Lived Religion and Development and former member of the Dutch Senate.
Prof.dr. Liesbeth EnnekingPermanent member
Professor of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Erasmus School of Law.
Prof.dr. Michal OndercoPermanent member
Professor of International Relations at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences.
Together, they bring insight and expertise on matters in the realms of politics, intercultural differences, and religion (Ganzevoort); responsible business conduct in global value chains, corporate accountability for human rights violations, and sustainable development (Enneking), and international relations and the military (Onderco).
In line with the Framework (see below), one additional members have been appointed specifically for the advice on collaboration with partners in Israel and Palestine. The position of the second additional member will be filled soon. This is:
Dr. Ward VloeberghsAdditional member
Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Erasmus University College.
They bring specific expertise in international law, human rights and human rights violations, and the modern Middle East.
The Secretariat of the ACSC (René Teunissen) operates independently in its support to the Committee and does not play a decision-making role on Committee matters.
Integrity of the ACSC
The Committee is committed to the principles and values of public integrity. These include independence, fairness and impartiality (seeking to provide advice on the basis of rational thinking and objective grounds); acting in good faith; reliability and carefulness (conscious of the credibility and purpose of the Committee’s work and its mandate, and taking care with regard to information, people and resources); and personal responsibility (taking accountability for one’s actions).
Impartiality of the ACSC
The committee believes it is crucial to undertake its assessment of collaborations in an impartial manner. In this context, impartiality means that at all times the Committee will refrain from taking sides in its preparation of advice and will seek to avoid any appearance of partiality in their formulation of advice on sensitive collaborations and in their interactions with stakeholders.
In case of a conflict of interest (i.e., a situation in which the personal or professional interests of one of Committee members interfere or may interfere with that member’s objectivity, independence and impartiality) the Committee member in question will declare the conflict of interest and recuse him/herself from deliberation on the issue at hand.
Regarding the current advice on collaboration with partners in Israel and Palestine, none of the members of the committee is involved in existing EUR collaborations with partners in Israel or Palestine.
Transparency and engagement
The committee believes that transparency is crucial to create support for its procedure and methods, foster understanding of its considerations, and promote accountability among EUR students and staff alike in relation to engaging in (potentially) sensitive cooperations. For this reason, the committee aims to engage in conversations with stakeholders and the EUR community at large, and to be transparent with respect to the advice it provides to the Board of Erasmus University. Advice given will be published together with the relevant arguments, unless the Executive Board decides otherwise.
Actual case
The first advice that the committee will give to the Executive Board will be on collaboration with institutions in Israel and Palestine.
Contact
Email address that can be used to contact the committee: acsc@eur.nl.
Publications
The framework has been approved by the Executive Board, the framework is adapted to the specific needs of the case that is addressed by the committee (as is stated in the framework).
Note on communications
The ACSC plans to communicate regularly and transparently on progress with and outcomes of its work. For now, during its establishment, this website will be the key source of committee updates.