27 January 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
GENEVA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 UN human rights experts* today expressed alarm over the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) \u2013 a publicly funded Swiss university \u2013 pursuing criminal prosecution of students who peacefully protested its partnerships with Israeli institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cPublicly funded research must not contribute, directly or indirectly, to war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide. States and institutions have an obligation to ensure that this does not happen,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n The experts noted that the collaborations reportedly involve universities that are integral to Israel\u2019s military-industrial complex, working on artificial intelligence, surveillance, and weapon technologies potentially used in the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n Until October 2025, ETH Zurich\u2019s website stated that no end-use controls existed over knowledge exchanged through fundamental research collaborations, and that the potential military application of its work could not be ruled out. While Switzerland introduced new dual-use export control regulations in May 2025, these do not apply to fundamental research. As such, responsibility largely appears to be delegated to individual researchers, without robust institutional oversight.<\/p>\n \u201cThe alleged integration of academic research into military systems raises serious questions of potential complicity in international crimes,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cUniversities, especially those receiving public funding, have a legal obligation to uphold human rights standards and refrain from supporting, directly or indirectly, any unlawful acts or occupations, such as\u00a0Israel\u2019s control over the occupied Palestinian territory<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n In May 2024, around seventy students staged sit-ins at the university, calling for transparency and disengagement from research linked to the Israeli military-industrial complex. The experts noted that police were reportedly called within minutes, a large security presence deployed, and the sit-ins forcibly dispersed, despite no teaching being interrupted and no violence occurring.<\/p>\n Following the protests, 38 students received penal orders, including 17 who chose to appeal despite the significant personal and financial risks involved. Recent court decisions have upheld trespass convictions against five students, while acquitting two others on procedural grounds. Decisions for the remaining ten students are pending.<\/p>\n \u201cÉ«¿âTVful student activism, on and off campus, is part of students\u2019 rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and must not be criminalised,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cUniversities and States must ensure that expressing solidarity with human rights causes and demanding accountability from State institutions, especially in relation to well-documented instances of international crimes, do not lead to intimidation, prosecution, or long-term harm to students\u2019 futures,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n The experts urged Swiss authorities and the judicial system to take full account of Switzerland\u2019s human rights obligations. They called for swift action regarding the potential complicity of research partnerships in international crimes and the criminalisation of peaceful student protests.<\/p>\n The experts have contacted the Swiss Government and ETH Zurich on this issue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Farida Shaheed<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the right to education<\/a>; <\/p>\n To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 27 January 2026 GENEVA\u00a0\u2013 UN human rights experts* today expressed alarm over the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) \u2013 a publicly funded Swiss university \u2013 pursuing criminal prosecution of students who peacefully protested its partnerships with Israeli institutions. \u201cPublicly funded research must not contribute, directly or indirectly, to war crimes, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[1152],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[6805,5990,6863,5025,4570,2025,6854,6942],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2441,7003,6790,1741,6881],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-314890","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-switzerland","document-category-press-release","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-freedom-of-peaceful-assembly-and-association","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-promotion-and-protection-of-the-right-to-freedom-of-opinion-and-expression","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-education","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-right-to-peaceful-assembly-and-association","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-defenders","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-opt","document-source-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territories-occupied-since-1967","document-source-working-group-on-business-and-human-rights","document-subject-education-and-culture","document-subject-freedom-of-expression","document-subject-genocide","document-subject-human-rights-and-international-humanitarian-law","document-subject-occupied-palestinian-territory","entity-united-nations-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314945,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/314890\/revisions\/314945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=314890"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=314890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}*The experts:<\/h5>\n
\nIrene Khan<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression<\/a>;
\nGina Romero<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association<\/a>;
\nMary Lawlor<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders<\/a>;
\nFrancesca Albanese<\/strong>,\u00a0Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967<\/a>;
\nDamilola Olawuyi<\/strong>\u00a0(Chairperson),\u00a0Robert McCorquodale<\/strong>\u00a0(Vice-Chairperson),\u00a0Fernanda Hopenhaym<\/strong>,\u00a0Lyra Jakulevi\u010dien\u0117<\/strong>, and\u00a0Pichamon Yeophantong<\/strong>,\u00a0Working Group on Business and Human Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n