Student movements have, throughout history, played an essential role in advancing democracy, human rights, social justice, and educational reform. Universities are not only places of learning, they are also communities in which students develop their civic engagement, critical thinking, and democratic participation. Peaceful protest has long been an integral part of that tradition.
Denmark has consistently championed human rights, democratic participation, freedom of expression, and civic freedoms at the international level. As a country that advocates for these principles globally, it is important that peaceful political expression and student activism are also protected within its own institutions.
The Global Student Forum does not take a position in this statement on the specific political demands raised by the students involved. Rather, we reaffirm a broader principle: students must be able to organise, advocate, protest, and express their views peacefully without fear of disproportionate disciplinary or criminal consequences.
Universities have a legitimate responsibility to ensure safety, maintain operations, and protect the rights of all members of their communities. However, responses to peaceful student activism must remain proportionate and consistent with democratic principles. The criminalisation of non-violent student protest risks creating a chilling effect on student participation, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and civic engagement on campus.
We are particularly concerned by the precedent that criminal proceedings against students may set for democratic participation within higher education institutions. Across the world, student leaders increasingly report shrinking civic space and growing barriers to participation. Universities should remain places where students can engage critically with society, challenge existing structures, and advocate for change through peaceful means.
The history of higher education demonstrates that many of the rights and democratic structures enjoyed by students today were secured through student organising, advocacy, and protest. Student participation in university governance, academic freedom, and broader democratic reforms have often been advanced by students willing to raise difficult questions and challenge prevailing policies. Universities should therefore approach peaceful student activism not as a threat to academic communities, but as a reflection of engaged citizenship and intellectual inquiry.
At a time when democratic participation is under pressure in many parts of the world, universities have a special responsibility to protect spaces for peaceful debate, dissent, and engagement. A healthy academic community must be capable of accommodating disagreement and protest while upholding the rights and safety of all members of the university community.
The Global Student Forum therefore calls upon the relevant authorities to ensure that any response to peaceful student activism is necessary, proportionate, and fully consistent with Denmark's human rights obligations and democratic values. We further encourage universities to prioritise dialogue, mediation, and democratic engagement as the primary means of addressing disputes involving student activism.
Students should be recognised as active participants in academic communities, not treated as threats to them. The strength of a democracy is measured not by how it responds to agreement, but by how it responds to peaceful dissent.
The Global Student Forum stands in support of the rights of students everywhere to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, democratic participation, and meaningful engagement in the institutions that shape their lives and futures.
This statement is jointly issued with The National Union of Students in Denmark (DSF)
