UN expert urges Hungary to ‘reconsider’ law targeting university
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Law
Geneva, April 11, 2017 (dpa/NAN) A UN human rights expert on Tuesday urged the Hungarian parliament to reconsider a recently enacted law that could force a private American-founded university in the city to shut down.
“Signed into effect by President Janos Ader, the law is likely to violate the central precepts of academic freedom in a free society.
“Passed in an emergency procedure “without normal legislative process, the bill seemed designed to damage” the Central European University (CEU),” UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye said.
More than 1,000 protesters took to the streets of Budapest on Monday night after tens of thousands did the same on Sunday – rallying against a law apparently tailor-made to shut the CEU down.
Protests began already last week as Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet introduced the bill, setting standards for CEU that it cannot meet, such as having a campus in the establishment’s home country.
More demonstrations were called for Wednesday.
U.S. billionaire George Soros founded CEU in 1992 with the aim of spreading ideas of democracy and liberalism in the region after the fall of communism and the end of the Cold War.
According to the university’s website, more than 1,400 students from 108 countries are enrolled.
However, Orban has positioned himself in favour of constructing an “illiberal” state and sees Soros as a threat to these aims.
The governments of the U.S., Germany and France, along with organisations such as the International Association of Universities have criticised the move possibly leading toward the closure of the CEU. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Abdullahi Yusuf