Latin America Regional Hub

Protecting Scholars at Risk & Human Rights Defenders in Latin America

The Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas is supporting three universities in the region to host academics at risk / human rights defenders through short-term residencies of approximately four to six months. The Universidade Rural do Rio de Janeiro and Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo in Brazil, and the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional de Colombia will offer hosted individuals opportunities to engage in teaching, research, and outreach activities. The initiative is grounded in a care-centered approach, anchored in a strong pedagogical framework.

Background

The global trend of democratic backsliding and autocratisation has intensified debates on the social and political roles of higher education institutions and underscored the urgent need to reflect on academic freedom and the consolidation of civic space in Latin America. Academic freedom is widely understood as an indicator of democratic health, as it enables the production, exchange, and contestation of knowledge through research, teaching, debate and public engagement. Crucially, it should be understood not merely as an individual or sectoral entitlement, but as a collective right, a structural component of civic space, and a condition for democracy.

The current context places human rights defenders—including academics and educators—under increasing pressure. Across the region, educators and researchers—especially those engaged in work on human rights, inequality, environmental justice, gender, and democracy—face harassment, censorship, criminalisation, and violence. These attacks not only threaten individuals but also undermine civic space more broadly. In response, there is a growing need for higher education institutions to act as part of wider protection ecosystems, contributing to support networks for human rights defenders, with particular attention to educators at risk.

Despite existing international frameworks, Latin America lacks consolidated regional mechanisms specifically designed to support human rights defenders in academic contexts. Existing programs, largely based in the Global North, often face linguistic, cultural, and structural limitations that restrict access for Latin American scholars.