UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Farida Shaheed said she does not know that antisemitism on campuses “is actually on the rise.”
The Pakistani sociologist and feminist human rights activist gave these remarks during a meeting held last week with students from across the globe as part of a series of consultations around her upcoming report to the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2025, which will reportedly focus on “safety as an essential element of the right to education and a precondition for its full realization.”
According to the agenda, some of the issues discussed in the meeting included cyberbullying and “counter-terrorism policies targeting students and school professionals,” as well as security personnel, compulsory military training, and surveillance in schools – including facial and “emotional” recognition.
“I am more than willing to write a report on antisemitism, as well as all the anti-other things that are happening,” Shaheed said. “Unfortunately, I do not know antisemitism is actually on the rise.”
The rapporteur also added that she can’t act based on newspaper reports and said that even when she had met with Jewish students in Geneva, they failed to provide her with relevant information.
As for the process of her work, Shaheed said her own professional opinions are what guide her primarily while approaching the writing and research for her reports, adding that she does not follow specific criteria for choosing a topic.
Despite choosing the topics on her own, she also stressed that she would not reach out to individuals to hear about their experiences, but rather needs the information to be delivered to her.
Shaheed said she cannot address the specific issue of antisemitism alone, as she is “here for the whole world,” and won’t be writing a report on one issue. She said that even if she would be approached with the information and a report would be written, it would not deal only with Jews but with “discrimination against particular groups.”
However, despite this, the UN special rapporteur has in fact signed several statements addressing specific and non-global issues, mainly revolving around Gaza, as is evident on her website.
Toward the end of the discussion, Shaheed acquiesced that she had in fact heard of a rise in antisemitism, not only in schools, but “nobody has written to me to say, ‘this is what happened here.’”
A tenfold increase in antisemitic events on campus
SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS have published reports showing an alarming uptick in antisemitic events on campuses since the October 7 massacre, a period that witnessed encampments, pro-Hamas rallies, and instances of violence directed against Jews.
For instance, Hillel International just reported this week about a more than eight-fold increase in antisemitic instances, from 135 in July-December 2022, to 1,088 in those months of 2023, and 978 in the same period last year.
Likewise, the ADL reported that between the start of the Fall 2023 semester and early November 2023, 73% of Jewish students witnessed or experienced antisemitism, while a plurality of Jewish students reported feeling physically unsafe on campus, and even more reported feeling emotionally unsafe.
The World Union of Jewish Students condemned the rapporteur’s comments.
“The World Union of Jewish Students is deeply troubled by the UN Education Rapporteur’s apparent dismissal of the rise in antisemitism on university campuses. Jewish students worldwide are facing levels of hostility, discrimination, and exclusion that we have not seen in nearly 90 years, yet the very body meant to safeguard educational environments seems unwilling to acknowledge this crisis,” WUJS said.
“Between October 2023 and February 2024, Jewish students across Europe reported hundreds of antisemitic incidents in their universities. In the United States, Jewish students at Rutgers University were disciplined for speaking out against harassment they had endured on campus,” the union said.
It said these cases are not exceptions; they represent the reality students who feel unsafe in their own universities are experiencing.
“To suggest that antisemitism does not warrant dedicated attention, or that the burden of proof falls solely on students experiencing discrimination, is both unacceptable and deeply irresponsible,” it said.
Antisemitism is not an afterthought – it is a pressing issue that demands urgent and independent action. WUJS calls on global institutions, including the UN, to take the concerns of Jewish students seriously and to ensure that all forms of hatred, including antisemitism, are addressed with the gravity they deserve.”
The rapporteur’s office refused to respond to Jerusalem Post inquiries.