Call for papers

Within the  broader conceptual and empirical framework of this Conference, which takes place on 19-20 October 2026, the Human Rights Centre “Antonio Papisca” and the UNESCO Chair “Human Rights, Democracy and Peace” of the of the University of Padova have launched, in tight cooperation with the Human Rights Consortium (University of London), the School of Global Studies (University of Gothenburg), the Centre for Applied Human Rights (University of York), the Law and Development Research Group (University of Antwerp) and the Institute of International Studies (University of Wroclaw), the UNESCO Chair in Human Security and Human Rights (University of Graz) and the Global Campus of Human Rights, a call for papers open to human rights scholars, researchers, Ph.D. students and to human rights operators and professionals with research assignments.

Preference will be given to sound proposals which contribute addressing, from different disciplinary perspectives the following topics (see detailed topic descriptions, below the "Dates and Instructions" section).

• New technologies and participation in human rights monitoring
• The ICC: Double or Quits?
• The Contribution of New Social Movements and Youth Activism to Human Rights Monitoring and the 2050 Agenda
• Anti-gender movements at the institutional level and their implications for women’s rights monitoring
• Monitoring human rights in difficult times: CSO and community perspectives on reporting human rights violations. 
• The Contribution of Public Bodies to the UN Human Rights System: National Human Rights Institutions and Local Governments

Dates and instructions

To participate in the call for papers, please fill the form by 1st September 2026 (midnight).

You will be asked to provide an abstract of maximum 300-500 words, information about authors, up to 4 key-words and a reference to one of the conference’s panel topics.

Notification of acceptance will be sent by 20th September.

For accepted abstracts, the submission of a working paper before the Conference is strongly encouraged. This will also help preparing the manuscript for the publication opportunities provided in the context of this event (publication in Peace Human Rights Governance, the entirely open-access and online first scientific journal of the University of Padova Human Rights Centre).

There is no Conference fee. 
The University is unable to financially support selected panelists’ travel and accomodation costs. 
 

Proposed Panel Topics
 

UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies reform in the context of the UN80 process: liquidity or political crisis?

Panel proposed and managed by Rossella De Falco, University of Antwerp, Law and Development Research Group

The United Nations (UN) is facing unprecedent financial and geopolitical challenges. The withdrawal of major donors from core UN agencies, as well as mounting diplomatic tensions amongst members are threatening UN’s position as the linchpin of multilateralism. Against this backdrop, in March 2025, the UN Secretary General announced the UN80 reform, a sweeping restructuring initiative aimed at making ‘every dollar, every mandate, and every decision’ count.

This panel invites papers that critically investigate how the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies reform is unfolding at this critical moment. Papers may address questions such as: What are the impacts of the liquidity crisis on the human rights monitoring machinery? What are the implications for human rights accountability under international law? Which technical, procedural or technological advancements may enhance human rights monitoring at the UN? What are the potential benefits or pitfalls of the UN Human Rights Group advanced through UN80? What role could regionalization of human rights treaty bodies play? How are non-State actors, including multi-stakeholder approaches, initiatives and partnerships, influencing or being involved in the process of human rights monitoring reform?

The panel is open to human rights scholars and practitioners from different scientific fields, and it welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers. Case studies or comparative approaches looking at specific rights, Treaty Bodies or themes, such as health, education, food and water, are particularly encouraged.

New technologies and participation in human rights monitoring

Panel proposed and managed by Peter Johansson, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, and Damien Short, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Study, University of London

This panel explores how emerging technologies are reshaping human rights monitoring and transforming the work of human rights organisations. Digital tools such as mobile reporting platforms, satellite imagery, open-source intelligence, and AI-assisted data analysis offer new opportunities for citizens, activists, journalists, and affected communities to document violations in near real time. These technologies can expand monitoring capacity, improve crisis response, and help identify patterns of abuse that might otherwise remain invisible.
At the same time, AI and digital technologies raise significant ethical and organisational challenges. Human rights organisations must address concerns related to algorithmic bias, misinformation, surveillance, data privacy, and unequal access to digital tools. Questions of legitimacy are also increasingly important. How can organisations maintain public trust, transparency, accountability, and participatory principles when AI and digital technologies shape evidence collection, advocacy work, fundraising and reporting? Other concerns involve the environmental and human rights impacts of AI and digital technologies, including high energy consumption, freshwater use for data centre cooling, and dependence on critical rare earth minerals.

This panel invites scholars and practitioners to critically examine opportunities and challenges for human rights monitoring enabled by AI and other digital technologies, with particular attention to participation, transparency, accountability, ethics, and legitimacy.

The ICC: Double or Quits?

Panel proposed and managed by Paolo De Stefani, Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova

Among the numerous human rights anniversaries to be commemorated in 2026 – too many to be fully enumerated – is the verdict of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal on 1 October 1946. Many decades later, in 1998-2002, the International Criminal Court was established to extend and consolidate that historic achievement. At 80 years since Nuremberg and 25 years into the mixed results of the International Criminal Court, while most of the legal and practical constraints that historically hindered investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of the most heinous international crimes have gradually diminished, it is increasingly evident that political and ideological opposition to the effective functioning of the ICC is intensifying, including punitive measures that appear inherently illegal and potentially criminal against judges and investigators. However, hesitations and opposition to the ‘rule of law’ are also gaining momentum among large segments of the public worldwide, in Western democracies and in the Global South alike, posing an existential challenge to the international criminal justice project.
Participants in this panel are encouraged to assess whether ‘like-minded’ states, institutions, and civil society organisations are sufficiently equipped to address these challenges, and to consider how recent progress in broadening the International Criminal Court's investigative focus can be further reinforced. Noteworthy advances in evidence-gathering and investigative methods, largely enabled by technological innovations, have been complemented by innovative approaches in legal doctrine and judicial practice, including in domestic jurisdictions. Have these developments reached a stalemate, or is further substantive progress in sight? Can current achievements foster a shift in attitudes among civil society actors and key decision-makers, who have so far been quite lukewarm about the peace-through-justice vision? Will the perceived gap between the widespread demand for global justice and the ‘transactionalist’ politics of major global powers strengthen the strategic role of judicial bodies, or will international courts collapse under excessive and competing expectations?

The Contribution of New Social Movements and Youth Activism to Human Rights Monitoring and the 2050 Agenda

Panel proposed and managed by Magdalena Ratajczak, Marta Ryniejska-Kiełdanowicz, Institute of International Studies, University of Wroclaw

This panel explores the growing role of new social movements and youth-led activism in reshaping contemporary human rights monitoring mechanisms at the international, regional, and local levels. In recent years, emerging movements driven by young people have become central actors in advancing social justice, climate action, gender equality, digital rights, anti-discrimination initiatives, and democratic participation. The panel aims to critically examine how youth movements and new social mobilizations contribute to making international human rights machinery more inclusive, effective, and transformative. The panel will also consider youth activism through the lens of intergenerational justice, highlighting the responsibility of present generations to protect the rights, resources, and living conditions of younger and future generations. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which young activists engage with international organizations, treaty bodies, UN mechanisms, and transnational civil society networks in pursuit of the objectives connected to the 2050 Agenda and broader sustainable development frameworks.

Contributors are invited to reflect on questions including, but not limited to:
•    How do youth-led movements influence contemporary human rights monitoring practices?
•    In what ways do new social movements promote inclusiveness and participation within international institutions?
•    What innovative strategies and digital tools are being used by youth activists to advance accountability and human rights protection?
•    How can international human rights mechanisms better respond to the expectations and demands of younger generations?
•    What are the opportunities and limitations of youth participation in achieving long-term transformative change connected to sustainability, democracy, and human rights?
The panel welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives from law, political science, sociology, international relations, media studies, and related fields, as well as contributions combining academic and practitioner viewpoints. Through this discussion, the panel seeks to highlight the transformative potential of youth engagement and emerging social movements in reimagining the future of human rights monitoring.

Anti-gender movements at the institutional level and their implications for women’s rights monitoring

Panel proposed and managed by Anh Nguyen, Human Rights Centre ‘Antonio Papisca’, University of Padova

One of the most significant and underexamined developments in contemporary human rights governance is the growing presence of anti-gender actors within the very spaces designed to protect and advance women’s rights. From UN treaty body sessions to Human Rights Council debates, organised networks of actors, often described as “anti-preneurs” or “norm antipreneurs”, are increasingly deploying the language and procedures of international human rights law to contest reproductive rights, gender equality norms, and the recognition of gender-based violence as a human rights violation. This panel investigates the strategies, funding structures, and political alliances that enable these actors to gain access to international monitoring processes, and the responses – or lack thereof – by states, civil society, and international bodies. It further investigates the instrumentalisation of gender-related issues to challenge liberal democratic norms and the reconfiguration of transnational civil society. The panel aims to map the terrain of this normative contestation and explore counter-strategies to defend the integrity of women’s rights monitoring.

The panel invites papers on how to respond to the rise of anti-gender movements at the institutional level. Papers may explore the following themes: anti-gender actors’ strategies and influence in international and regional human rights forums; the impact of normative contestation on CEDAW, the Human Rights Council, and Special Procedures related to gender equality; the responses of feminist civil society organisations to shrinking participatory space; strategies to counter disinformation and anti-gender narratives; and the legal and political tools available to defend gender equality norms within the international machinery. Theoretical, empirical, case study or comparative contributions are all welcome.

Monitoring human rights in difficult times: CSO and community perspectives on reporting human rights violations. 

Panel proposed and managed by Piergiuseppe Parisi, Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of  York and Corinne Lennox, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and grassroots communities play an essential role in providing alternative monitoring and reporting on state and non-state actor compliance with international human rights standards.  From alternative reports to the UN treaty bodies, to stakeholder submissions for the University Periodic Review, and briefings for Special Rapporteurs during country visits, information produced by these actors is central to the functioning of the UN and regional monitoring mechanisms.  However, this activity comes with costs, both in terms of resources and time, which are impacted now by funding cuts, but also in terms of risks in increasingly constrained and dangerous environments for information gathering on human rights violations.  Furthermore, when using alternative vocabularies (for example, Indigenous epistemologies or citizen science) that do not directly speak to internationally recognised standards, they may be misunderstood, ignored, or even face backlash.  Under these circumstances, how have CSOs, grassroots communities, and monitoring mechanisms adapted?   What impact have funding cuts, risks to human rights defenders, or state disengagement from the UN had on prospects for data gathering on human rights compliance?  To what extent have community-embedded monitoring and reporting found their way into the UN system, and with what impact?  How can the UN and other monitoring mechanisms better support CSOs and grassroots communities to maintain their participation and information production?  What alternatives are CSOs and grassroots communities using to conventional reporting pathways
We are interested in papers that document CSO and community-driven strategies for engagement with monitoring mechanisms at the UN and regional or sub-regional level across all aspects of human rights standards. Case studies of specific processes of engagement and impact would be useful. We also encourage research that offers a critical perspective on the continued relevance of supra-state monitoring for CSO and community-driven advocacy.  Papers that offer insights into how to make this protection regime more inclusive, effective and transformative are especially welcomed.

The Contribution of Public Bodies to the UN Human Rights System: National Human Rights Institutions and Local Governments

Panel proposed and managed by Gerd Oberleitner and Lisa Heschl, UNESCO Chair Human Security and Human Rights, University of Graz

This panel invites contributions examining the evolving role of public bodies — particularly National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), local governments and human rights cities — within the UN human rights system and its monitoring architecture. In a context marked by growing challenges to multilateralism, shrinking civic space, and declining state commitment to international human rights mechanisms, the panel seeks to critically explore how sub-national and independent public actors contribute to the inclusiveness, effectiveness and transformative potential of international human rights governance. Contributions may address, inter alia, the participation of NHRIs and local authorities in UN treaty body processes, the Universal Periodic Review, and Human Rights Council mechanisms; their role in implementing and localising international human rights norms; cooperation with civil society and grassroots movements; responses to contemporary crises and vulnerable groups; and the opportunities and limitations faced by these actors in strengthening accountability and democratic legitimacy. The panel welcomes theoretical and practice-oriented papers that engage with comparative, regional, or case-study perspectives and reflect on the future role of subnational actors and public authorities in adjusting international human rights monitoring for contemporary global challenges.