Will the university be a partner, rather than the main host?
The university may not be the main host but act in a supporting role instead, working with another university, a local authority, or an NGO. In such cases, the university should review what arrangements need to be made to perform its role(s) and be clear on divisions of labour among partners. The issue of where responsibility resides within the university (see above), still applies. Whether acting as the main hosting organisation or as a partner, universities may wish to become part of a wider network, such as the European Union Temporary Relocation Platform.
Universities can play a diverse set of secondary roles, including writing letters of support e.g. for visas, and providing a ‘neutral space’ for defenders to meet. Some of the more common support functions are described below.
Examples of support roles universities can perform
Providing training and courses
Participation in human rights law and political science programmes available to human rights defenders on the Shelter City programme (University College Roosevelt, University College Groningen, and Windesheim College, Netherlands).
Classes at the School of Cultural Peace for those relocated via the Catalan Asylum Action Committee (Autonomous University of Barcelona).
Defenders on the temporary relocation programme Oslo Breathing Space City are able to attend classes at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (University of Oslo).
Visas
Prospective participants in the ICORN relocation programme, which provides protective residencies for writers, journalists and artists facing persecution, are enrolled in university courses to allow them to meet the conditions for obtaining a visa. They also then participate in lectures and workshops (Vrije Universiteit Brussels).
Security
Universities may play an unofficial role in temporary relocation, for example by providing a temporary place of safety for human rights defenders and activists in danger, or by arranging relocation to a more secure part of the country for social leaders at risk (Jesuit universities in Latin America).