Within most universities, internationalization has become the rule rather than the exception and academic institutions take on an important social role. Respect for human rights is inherent to this universities’ social role. The Human Rights policy of the University of Antwerp focuses on the positive impact that universities can have on their partners, partner countries and society at large.
Researchers and employees should carefully reflect on the following two questions when entering into a partnership in educational, research or service collaboration:
- Who are the partner(s) in the cooperation? Assess whether the partner(s) involved in the partnership has/have been guilty of serious and/or systematic human rights violations in the past.
- Which activities will be performed in the framework of the cooperation? Could the intended activities give rise to human rights violations?
Human Rights Assessment
The Human Rights assessment, as published by the Interuniversity Council (VLIR) in 2019, consists of three phases: the screening, the scoping and the follow-up. The first step of the process, the screening, can be performed by university researchers or staff themselves. If necessary, you can contact the human rights contact point of Research, Innovation & Valorisation Antwerp (RIVA) for more information.
As a starting point, all researchers and staff need to think consciously and critically when starting a project, study or collaboration with one or more partners, both from within academia as well as outside and where there is a suspicion of a risk of human rights violations.
Make use of the indicator diagram which was developed specifically to assess potential risks for human rights infractions.
If after this screening you believe there might be a potential issue or if doubt remains after performing an online search and checking the indicators, please contact the Human Rights contact point of Research, Innovation & Valorisation Antwerp (RIVA). They can perform a more thorough examination or scoping of the partner and/or the activities, assess which concrete risks might arise and help you develop a procedure for remediation of these issues.