Manifesto

Academic excellence must align with human rights—no exceptions.

We are the Academic community of Munich. Scholars, students, medical doctors, employees of Munich research institutions and universities. And we demand our institutions to uphold international law principles and commit to human rights.Over the course of more than one year, we have witnessed the failure of our institutions to align with these critical principles. This neglect endangers the legitimacy of international law and contributes to human suffering. Our mission is to hold the institutions where we work and study accountable, advocate for a renewed commitment to uphold human rights, equity, and global standards of justice in all policies and practices, particularly in regards to the severe violations of international law in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.As scholars and students concerned about our institutions’ neglect of these principles, we have conducted an investigation into two major academic institutions: TUM and LMU and their israeli partner institutions. We summarized some examples where we believe that our institutions are contributing to international law violations and collected them in a report.

Our Methodology

Our research was guided by the advisory opinions and court rulings by the international court of justice. Our data consists of public information only, predominantly found on the very own websites of TUM, LMU or their Israeli partner institutions.

Our Findings

Despite only selecting a few examples of problematic collaborations to demonstrate our argument, the report is more 50 pages long. These few examples demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe that TUM and LMU could be contributing to violations of international law by collaborating with highly militarized israeli institutions and participating in research projects affiliated with the Israeli Military and/or israeli weapons companies.