On Wednesday 25 September, several staff and students had a conversation with the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Sensitive Collaborations, Ruard Ganzevoort, about the publication of the committee's preliminary advice. The next meeting with the committee is scheduled for Monday 18 November from 16:15 to 17:15 at the Erasmus Education Lab.
You can already register by sending an email to acsc@eur.nl.
What role does the ruling (interlocutory judgment that Israel must prevent genocide in Gaza) of the International Court of Justice play?
As a committee, we are looking for objective criteria that we can use to assess the partnerships we are investigating. Not only for this first case, but also for all future cases. In doing so, we are certainly also looking at the International Court of Justice. This interlocutory judgment was not central to our preliminary advice, but will be included in the assessment of the partnerships we are currently working on.
The protests here on campus and elsewhere call for a freeze on ties with Israeli institutions. Why do you also rate Palestinian Universities; that puts them on the same level as Israel?
The advisory committee has its own mandate and is therefore not tasked with carrying out what the protesters are asking. At the same time, it is true that the strong moral appeal of the protests has led to moral questions being prioritised on the university-wide agenda. In all our communications, we have always tried to make it clear that there is, of course, a different starting point for universities in Palestine than for those in Israel. The universities in Gaza have been destroyed out in terms of buildings and we see a major disruption of the education system there and in the West Bank, but we also know that there are initiatives to keep academia alive. In addition, in Palestine too, there could be cooperations that could be classified as sensitive. We believe that it is important to give priority to initiatives in the area, so that we do not delay reconstruction initiatives.
Would you take a closer look at partnerships with both Russia and Ukraine in the next case?
Yes, definitely. This committee is here to stay. We are now mapping out the preconditions not only for Israel-Palestine, but also for future cases. If the next case concerns Ukraine, we would, in principle, also want to involve both Russia and Ukraine.
Do you also ask for input from the partnerships you are researching?
Yes, that's the intention. We ask for input from all sides, both directly involved and independent. Even before we made that request, we were already being asked by several cooperation partners whether it is true that the collaboration will be assessed. You can imagine that the person being judged is not immediately enthusiastic.
Where can we provide input if we have information about one of the partnerships?
The committee is also thinking about ways in which we can use the knowledge and expertise we have in-house. In doing so, we must, of course, be very careful to separate political and other opinions from facts and experiences that are a valuable addition to the truth-finding process, based on which the committee must reach a judgement. We'll get back to this soon. In the meantime, valuable information can be sent to acsc@eur.nl.
How do you make sure that you are not only careful, but also do justice to the urgency – there are deaths in Gaza and Lebanon every day?
Of course, we also see the urgency and we try to prioritise. This means that we will give priority to new partnerships, which may also be linked to reconstruction in Gaza. In addition, we are also looking at partnerships in the Palestinian territories as a matter of priority.
There is a vacancy on the advisory committee; When will it be filled?
We are working on this. Now that one of the committee members has had to step down due to lack of time, knowledge of International Law is somewhat limited. One of the other members does have knowledge of the business side of International Law, but we would like to look at it more broadly. As soon as the details are available, we will announce this.
The committee has issued a preliminary recommendation. When can we expect a final opinion?
As indicated, we are now looking at a number of specific collaborations with priority. We expect to be able to give a final opinion on this in three months' time. It will take more time to be able to make statements about the current collaborations. We want to be meticulous about this.
- More information
Learn more about the Advisory Committee Sensitive Collaborations (ACSC).
Contact the committee? Email acsc@eur.nl.
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