Esteemed members of the new University of Arts Helsinki Board and the university management,
We approach you with this letter, as we believe that the change of our university's board is a fruitful time to continue working for the academic boycott of Israel, to which Uniarts Helsinki partially committed in November 2024. We the students consider it important that our university operates ethically and respects human rights. We want to ensure that the work that took place during the previous board's term for Israel's academic boycott and the realisation of human rights of Palestinians continues. We want you, the members of the new Board, to focus on this work with us during your term.
In this letter, we highlight the issues that were missing from a full commitment to the academic boycott and ask for them to be clarified. With this letter we also request an update to the actions taken in the fall of 2024.
In its release published on 13 November 2024, Uniarts Helsinki stated:
- Uniarts Helsinki officially suspended the cooperation between the Academy of Fine Arts and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design on 6 November 2024
- Sitoutuvansa ”olemaan tekemättä yhteistyötä israelilaisten yliopistojen kanssa, kunnes Gazan humanitaarinen kriisi on ratkennut ja yhteistyön edellytykset ovat eettisesti arvioitu”
- Käyneensä läpi sijoituksensa kansainvälisenBoycott,Divestment and Sanctions -liikkeen boikottilistan näkökulmasta. Yliopisto kertoi, ettei sillä ole suoria omistuksia listan yrityksissä, mutta että sen ”98 miljoonan euron sijoitussalkun kahdessa rahastossa on Israelin uusina sekeleinä tehtyjä sijoituksia yhteensä 700 eurolla”.
A year later, in September 2025, Uniarts Helsinki also signed a petition to exclude Israel from the Horizon Europe research programme.
These measures, especially the freezing of exchanges, have been exemplary both in Finland and internationally. We are happy about them, because they have been in line with Uniarts Helsinki's values and have demonstrated the university's ability to take responsibility as a social actor and to take the side of human rights and international law. In addition, suspending cooperation with Israeli universities for the time being and reviewing the investment portfolio in the light of the BDS movement's boycott list were the right things to do. They showed that Uniarts Helsinki listens to its students and that students can influence the university's operations.
Measures to guarantee an academic boycott of Israel and to strengthen the rights and status of Palestinians are still urgently needed. Israeli universities are complicit in the genocide in Gaza that has been going on for more than 30 months and in maintaining Israel's apartheid system. Israeli universities are developing weapons systems and training soldiers. Universities offer separate financial support to their students who are directly involved in the genocide in Gaza. In addition to this, the universities cooperate with the state security authorities in restricting the rights of Palestinian students.
As committing to an academic boycott is an active commitment, we ask for answers to the following three questions about how you intend to promote the implementation of the academic boycott at our university:
- Exchange Agreement
Tiedotteessaan 13.11.2024 Taideyliopisto kertoi ”jäädyttäneensä” (eng. suspend) yhteistyön Bezalel-yliopiston kanssa. Tiedotteessa ei kuitenkaan tarkenneta, mihin asti sopimus pysyy jäädytettynä.
Is Uniarts Helsinki committed to keeping the exchange connection frozen until Israel complies with international law? The BDS movement demands that the efforts continue until Israel ends the illegal occupation and colonization of Palestine and dismantles the wall built in the West Bank, recognizes the fundamental rights of Palestinian Arab citizens and recognizes them as fully equal to others, and respects, protects and promotes the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in accordance with UN Resolution 194.
- Other collaborations
Tiedotteessaan Taideyliopisto muotoilee, että se sitoutuu pitäytymään yhteistyöstä ”kunnes Gazan humanitaarinen kriisi on ratkennut ja yhteistyön edellytykset ovat eettisesti arvioitu”. Humanitaarisen kriisin ratkaiseminen ja eettinen arviointi eivät kuitenkaan ole PACBI:n ja BDS:n ohjeistuksen mukaan riittäviä syitä yhteistyön jatkamiseen. Yhteistyöstä tulee pidättäytyä siihen saakka, kunnes Israel tunnistaa palestiinalaisten luovuttamattomat oikeudet sellaisina kuin ne on määritelty kansainvälisessä oikeudessa (mukaan lukien kolme perusoikeutta, jotka on esitetty vuoden 2005 BDS-kutsussa), ja israelilaiset instituutiot lopettavat kaiken osallisuuden palestiinalaisten oikeuksien loukkauksiin, sellaisina kuin ne on määritelty kansainvälisessä oikeudessa.
We ask you to clarify your policy and publicly commit not to cooperating with Israeli universities until Israel complies with international law, in line with the goals of the BDS movement.
If Uniarts Helsinki wants to evaluate its collaborations ethically, we ask you to read the Policy on Ethical Academic Ties (PEAT) and implement them.
- Investments
According to our understanding, the value of investments made in Israeli shekels has fluctuated since 2024. What is the current state of investments? In the name of transparency, we ask you to share the results of the investment portfolio review.
In addition, we ask you to 1) state that Uniarts Helsinki will not invest in companies that are involved in human rights violations in Palestine, 2) if the review reveals investments that are in conflict with item 1 to initiate the divestment process.
This letter has been written, in collaboration, by the students of Uniarts who have promoted the academic boycott (Uniarts Students for Palestine) and the University of Arts Helsinki Student Union (TaiYo) Board. TaiYo’s board and Uniarts Students for Palestine have been cooperating since autumn 2024, when students made a members initiative to demand an academic boycott of Israel. TaiYo's Representative Council approved the members initiative unanimously.
If you are new to the principles of PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel), we hope you will read more here: PACBI Guidelines for the International Academic Boycott of Israel | BDS Movement
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