Coalitions across the Americas, Africa and Southeast Asia mobilize in 2025
Posted December 11, 2025
From October to November, 2025, Scholars at Risk joined our three coalitional partners—the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), the African Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF), and the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF)—at each of their annual conferences to discuss the challenges facing academic freedom in each of their regions.
With academic freedom declining worldwide, these conferences were more than just places to share academic research or bolster professional networks. They were also safe spaces where members of the higher education community facing the same or similar acts of oppression could find solidarity across borders. From Brazil to Zimbabwe to the Philippines, state state leaders have sought to control what universities teach through financial or legal means; used excessive police force to quell student dissent; restricted the study of climate change, gender, sexuality, and/or ideas deemed critical of the state; and jeopardized the physical safety of scholars. On campuses worldwide, this has created a climate of fear, leading institutions to acquiesce and scholars to self-censor.
In each of these examples below, SAR is proud to share moments of international solidarity, of strategies and experiences shared, and of valuable connections being made across the Americas, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The differences in the challenges we face across regions are many, but these past few weeks have illustrated that collaboration and collective action are essential to defending academic freedom—for the benefit of current and future scholars and for the health of democracy itself.
Rallying legal advocates for academic freedom at the 2025 CAFA Annual Conference
From October 21 – 23, the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA) hosted their fourth annual conference at the University of Monterrey (UDEM) in Mexico. The event convened at least 80 participants across the Americas to discuss the need for stronger legislative protections for academic freedom, the impact of gender-based discrimination and science denialism, findings from SAR’s Free to Think 2025 report, and more.
While the severity of threats to academic freedom in the region was apparent in panelists’ discussions, equally evident was the expertise of those working to strengthen academic freedom protections, and the potential of their collective strength to repel such attacks. By bringing together advocates, academics, and legal experts from Educador, Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Mexico, and beyond, the conference became a platform for sparking new ideas on engaging the public, devising legal strategy, and mapping commonalities across the region.
Following the conference, for instance, two members of CAFA’s legal working group from the University of Ottawa, Canada and the University of Monterrey, Mexico submitted an amicus brief to the Colombian Constitutional Court on behalf of a threatened scholar. The brief reinforced the link between academic freedom and human rights protections, and, importantly, demonstrated the tangible power of coordinated regional action: In moments of acute pressure, such collaboration not only offers vital support to scholars at risk but also affirms the concrete value of international solidarity.
The conference served as a powerful reminder that academic freedom is most effectively defended when advocates act in concert. The exchanges in Monterrey, coupled with the swift, joint action that followed, illustrate both the urgency of the challenges and the capacity of regional networks to respond.
Learn more about and watch the panel discussions here.
Forging regional networks at ACAF’s inaugural academic freedom conference
The Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) hosted their inaugural annual conference in Accra, Ghana from November 12 – 14. Co-organized with the University of Ghana, the conference was remarkably diverse, with academics and academic freedom advocates hailing from 45 out of 54 African states to discuss the underfunding of higher education, political interference in university leadership, the weak implementation of legal protections for academic freedom, and more.
Given the broad diversity of participating state representatives, attendees used the gathering to form sub-regional groupings (SRGs) of academic freedom advocates from Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Africa. By aligning advocates within these distinct contexts, the SRGs position ACAF to engage more effectively with the continent’s varied human rights mechanisms and economic communities, ensuring that efforts to protect academic freedom are informed by, and responsive to, the diversity of Africa’s sub-regions.
The conference also created a valuable opportunity to recruit legal experts to support ACAF’s development of African Principles on Academic Freedom—regional standards and implementation guidance designed to ensure academic freedom protections are truly representative of the region.
With newly formed sub-regional groupings and expanding legal expertise, ACAF is well-positioned to advance continent-wide standards that protect academic freedom.
Speaking freely: SEACAF’s first regional conference in action
The Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom (SEACAF) organized their first-ever regional conference in Bangkok, Thailand from November 3 – 4. The hybrid conference took place on the campus of SEACAF’s host, Mahidol University’s Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies and welcomed over 100 participants.
While addressing the core issues impacting higher education in Southeast Asia—such as the militarization of the university space, the neoliberalization of education, the crackdown on student protests, and the rise of anti-democratic leaders—attendees noted that the conference was also a much-needed space to speak openly and candidly about these challenges, especially for those who had been victims of red-tagging, coercive silence, or military rule.
Being in a non-threatening space allowed participants to reflect honestly on successful modes of resistance identified throughout the region, from which other states could learn. For instance, the conference included the participation of experts on the Surabaya Principles from Indonesia, with the hope that other Southeast Asian countries would produce similar guidance. Participants from the Philippines also highlighted efforts to organize inclusive, all-staff academic freedom committees within universities, translating broader academic freedom ideals into real, campus-level change—an effort that drew interest in several other Southeast Asian contexts.
Moving forward, SEACAF aims to work with participants on a regional monitoring report that captures and elevates the experiences shared at the conference.