It is in our hands: To protect our safety and the right to protest, do more than re-formulating the house rules.

Column by anonymous FNV-member from UvA

Protest is a fundamental right, and universities have a duty to facilitate and protect it. The violent events surrounding pro-Palestine protests this past year have shown us that freedom of assembly is not fully respected at the UvA. To rectify this, the university must introduce policy changes that go beyond reformulating the house rules.?

Positive societal change through protest

Throughout history protest has been a vehicle for positive societal change. Many of the rights and freedoms enjoyed by millions today were won as a result of protest movements. Given its important role in democratic processes, the freedom of assembly is enshrined in several legal frameworks, including Article 9 of the Dutch Constitution, Articles 10 and 11 of the European Charter of Human Rights, and Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These pieces of legislation recognize that the freedom of assembly—which includes the right to protest—is a fundamental right, and authorities thus have a duty to facilitate and protect the exercise of this right, even when it is disruptive. As “public-law bodies,” universities are also subject to this legal obligation, as the European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled.?

UvA restricts Freedom of Assembly and Expression

Since the eviction of the student encampment at Roeterseiland, evidence has surfaced showing that the UvA’s policies and actions—as well as consequent police operations—have complied neither with Dutch law nor international human rights standards. The UvA’s current house rules propose outright bans on “expressions of a cultural, political and/or religious nature,” and the Roterseiland campus rules require people organizing assemblies to obtain permission beforehand. Both of these are in direct conflict with European Human Rights law, as experts from the Information Law faculty point out.?

To understand how the freedoms of assembly and expression have been restricted at the UvA, we have to look beyond the wording of internal policy and instead pay attention to how these rules have been enforced in conjunction with other government institutions. One of the most problematic tendencies here is the Board’s treatment of all areas of the university as private property. On May 7th, the Board used “erfvredebreuk” as the legal basis to resort to police action and evict the student encampment in Roeterseiland, which the Dutch Public Prosecutor Service (Openbaar Ministerie) retroactive ruled as illegal. A downward spiral of violence and repression followed over the next days and weeks, with several human rights organizations describing police action as indiscriminate and disproportionate. To concerns about police violence on campus the board responded by saying that once the police is called, it’s out of their hands.?

Lack of Enforcement is key of the problem

These events led unionized staff members to put forth a set of demands calling for the Executive Board to expand protections on the right to protest. In response, the Board has claimed that the house rules are being re-formulated in a way that recognizes and protects the freedom of assembly. Despite these changes, the UvA has yet to address another key aspect of the FNV’s demands: their enforcement. Particularly, unionized staff demand concrete changes in how the UvA deals with the police.?

Section 1f of the demands states that the board must consult with staff before resorting to police action during a demonstration. Section 1g subsequently requires that police action must then trigger an independent investigation, and if excessive violence was used, the university must provide legal and psychological assistance to victims. The Executive Board has been largely silent on these aspects of the demands, reflecting a broader tendency to be open to “dialogue” and “feedback” while remaining reluctant to implement changes that would decentralize decision-making power.?

Protect our Freedoms

The University has a strong duty to protect the safety of its staff and students. As an esteemed educational and research institution, it is also supposed to foster and have the highest respect for critical thought. Therefore, the Board must not remain blind to evidence of police misconduct during demonstrations, since violence and intimidation threaten not only our legal rights but also our safety.

As it is clear that involving the police could lead to violence and injury the introduction of police needs more stringent procedures to secure it is functional instead of escalating. We ask the board to listen to us (employees and students) and to protect our fundamental freedoms and safety. As is your duty. Support the strike on the UvA! For more info go to www.fnv.nl/uva

1.?See the Raadscomissieverslag from the 3rd of October, 2024. Accessible through: https://amsterdam.raadsinformatie.nl/

2. ?See also: https://controlealtdelete.nl/articles/grootschalig-buitenproportioneel-geweld-in-amsterdam#gsc.tab=0

The letter with demands: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uwPjvCGL_ruFr6-bTcD3MsNCPrGOyKDb/view?usp=sharing