Scholars at Risk established its Scholars-in-Prison Project to help protect scholars unable to leave their home countries due to threats, restrictions or wrongful imprisonment, as well as to respond to widespread threats against an entire faculty, institution or educational system. The project monitors cases of attacks on scholars and academic freedom and issues media alerts and calls for letters and other interventions aimed at lifting of restrictions or charges, improvement in treatment or conditions of detention, release from detention, and/or investigations and accountability for past harms. SAR issues two types of alerts.
- Action alerts invite individuals to take timely action on behalf of a threatened scholar or in response to a wider incident, generally by sending letters, faxes, emails or making calls to media, policymakers and other key stakeholders. SAR provides background on the situation, contact information for stakeholders and draft text for messages.
- Information alerts provide information about situations which may be of interest to the list members but do not require action, such as updates on prior action alerts.
If you are interested in becoming involved in the activities of SAR Ireland Section, please contact Anthony Soares, Universities Ireland Secretary at a.soares@qub.ac.uk. Tel: +44 28 3751 1559.