New Academic Freedoms Legal Clinic at Hebron University

 

Hebron University (HU) College of Law and Political Science has set up a new legal clinic specialized in academic freedoms in partnership with Scholars-at-Risk (SAR) network, a New York University-based NGO with a consultative status of the UN Economic and Social Council. This is the first specialized legal clinic concerning the protection of the academics in Palestine and the Middle East. The Clinic operates by a group of law students from HU under the supervision of Adv. Rasha Subuh, a Lecturer of Law at HU, and Mr. Mazen Zaro, a clinical teaching assistant, along with six students: Ms. Woroud Karaki, Ms. Maram Asilh, Mr. Anas Natsheh, Ms. Shorouq Asilh, Ms. Waad Junaidi, and Ms. Banan Shawar.
 
This Clinic seeks to monitor, document and study cases of attacks targeting academics, professors and students alike, such as murder, threat, arbitrary detention, unlawful prosecution, travel bans, and campus attacks by authorities. It raises students’ awareness on academic freedoms in accordance with national as well as international standards, such as the right to education, freedom of opinion and expression, and the prohibition of arbitrary detention; as set forth, for instance, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Geneva Convention IV.
 
The idea of the Clinic has been proposed and discussed at the international meeting that took place at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in June 2015. The meeting was attended by university representatives from all around the world, including Dr. Mutaz Qafisheh, Dean of the HU Law School, which was followed by a series of lectures given by SAR for clinical students during the fall semester.