On July 17 the Human Rights Law Centre (HLRC) wrote to ANU, as well as four Victorian universities, urging them to respect students’ right to peaceful protest, and to drop threats of disciplinary sanctions against students involved in peaceful protests supporting Palestine.

The letter, addressed to Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell, recognises the long-standing place of student activism in being a part of university life and societal change, and urges the university not to follow the “all too-familiar” path of “harassment, intimidation and repression” that student protesters have historically battled against. 

The rights to peaceful assembly and association, “are protected by international human rights law and the Australian Capital Territory’s Human Rights Act.”

The letter urges the universities to affirm commitment to upholding these rights in order to maintain the place of universities as spaces of free expression and debate. It draws attention to the HRLC’s “Declaration of Our Right to Protest”, which outlines ten minimum protections for protest, and provides guidance on limiting these in accordance with human rights. 

Senior Lawyer at the HLRC, David Mejia-Canales, told Woroni that the letter was prompted by concern at hearing that, “students may be facing sanctions for participating in peaceful protests in support of Palestine.” 

Mejia-Canales explained that the HLRC “heard from students at the encampment that the University is intensifying its efforts to remove the students from the encampment and we subsequently contacted the University with our concerns. Universities, as places of knowledge and progress, must uphold the rights to peaceful assembly, association, expression, thought and conscience and foster an environment where diverse perspectives can be freely expressed and debated.”

Mejia-Canales also expressed concern at “accounts that peaceful actions have been mischaracterised as antisemitic or a threat to safety. Such actions not only undermine the students’ right to peaceful assembly but also erode important academic discourse.”

Late last semester, the ANU ordered the ANU Gaza Solidarity Encampment to vacate its previous location in the Kambri lawns, and threatened police action if the student protest refused to move.  

The ANU has confirmed receipt of the letter from the HRLC, but has not yet responded. According to the HRLC, they “expect the University to engage with our correspondence and indeed the issue in good faith.”

A spokesperson for the University emphasised that “Claims that the University is stopping student protest are incorrect”, and that the ANU “continues to facilitate protest on this issue and range, as long as this protest is safe, adheres to our codes of conduct and Australian law, and is appropriate for our campus.” 

Mejia-Canales suggests that students with concerns about their rights on campus should “speak to the ANU Students’ Association”, also directing students to community legal centres such as Canberra Community Law and the Aboriginal Legal Service of NSW/ACT.

“For information about the right to protest at law”, Mejia-Canales refers students to “visit the Human Rights Law Centre website.”