Harvard Kennedy School denying fellowship to Kenneth Roth is unacceptable.
The Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information condemns in the strongest terms Harvard Kennedy School’s denial of a position to the former head of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth over the organisation’s criticism of Israel.
The Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy offered Roth a position as a senior fellow shortly after he retired as director of HRW in April after 29 years. But the school’s dean, Douglas Elmendorf, allegedly vetoed the move.
“The refusal of a fellowship to Mr. Kenneth Roth is profoundly troubling from both a human rights and an academic freedom standpoint. The move raises serious questions about one of the US’s leading schools of government.”
- Ned El-Attar, Executive Director, Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information
For decades, Mr. Kenneth Roth has attracted many enemies among the authoritarian regimes whose human rights abuses he has publicly exposed, including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Rwanda. Kennedy School undermines its laudable commitment to intellectual diversity and free inquiry when it rescinds a fellowship offer based on the candidate’s viewpoint or speech. Specifically, the Kennedy School fails to promote an atmosphere that welcomes new ideas when it denies a fellowship to an accomplished human rights advocate and widely- acknowledged leader in the field over disagreement with some of his views.
“The appropriate response to Roth’s criticism of Israel by those who disagree with it is to offer more speech in the form of reasoned criticism and/or debate. More speech serves the principles of free expression and our continuous interest in the pursuit of truth.”
- Ned El-Attar, Executive Director, Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information
SOHRI believes that scholars and fellows have to be judged on their merits, not whether they please powerful political interests. Moreover, it is the role of a human rights defender to call out governments harshly, to take positions that are unpopular in certain quarters and to antagonize those who hold power and authority.
