Programme of the Conference
To attend the Conference registration is required at this online form.
Monday, 10th November 2025
9:30-10:00 Archivio Antico, Palazzo del Bo
Zoom link: https://unipd.zoom.us/j/89794831108
Salutation and Short Introduction
Marco Mascia, President of Human Rights Centre “A. Papisca”
Sara Pennicino, Head of the MA Degree Programme in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance
Alberto Lanzavecchia, Coordinator of the International Ph.D Programme Human Rights, Society and Multi-level Governance
Pietro de Perini, Coordinator of the Conference’s Scientific Committee
10:00-12:30 Archivio Antico, Palazzo del Bo
Zoom link: https://unipd.zoom.us/j/89794831108
Opening Plenary Session
Human and People Rights in the Collapsing Multilateral Order
Chair
Damien Short, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Studies, University of London
Speakers
Nazila Ghanea, University of Oxford, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief
Gamze Erdem Türkelli, University of Antwerp, Law & Development Research Group
Jan Wouters, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven
12:30-14:00 (Basilica, Palazzo del Bo) Conference Lunch
14:30-16:00 Human Rights Centre, Via Beato Pellegrino, 28
Parallel Research Panels, track A
PANEL 1A
How can global governance institutions better support peaceful self-determination claims of sub-state groups?
Zoom link:
Chair
Corinne Lennox, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Speakers
Uche Ndumele, Prime International Law Consults (PIL Consults)
Reframing Self-Determination: Electoral Integrity as a Pathway to Peace in Africa’s Collapsing Multilateral Order
Vishnu Nair, Amity University Dubai
Negotiated Self-Determination and the Right to Peace: Towards an Institutional Framework for Consensual Secession
Chopra Tushti, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai
Mediation Mandates 2.0: Operationalizing the Right to Self-Determination through Autonomy and Federal Bargains
Arenca Trashani, University "Luigj Gurakuqi" Shkodër, Albania
The relationship between state sovereignty and the right to self-determination and their impact to human rights protection
Leake Mekonen Tesfay, Aksum University School of Law
Fostering Peaceful Self-Determination in Federal Ethiopia: The State of Tigray in Focus
Sevanna Poghosyan, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Russia and the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination in International Law
PANEL 2A
How does marginalisation today shape "indigenous"?
Zoom link:
Chair
Paolo De Stefani, Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova
Speakers
Nisha Bhaskar, KLE Law College
The Law That Forgot the Land: Indigeneity and the Epistemic Violence through Non-recognition
Martin Crook, University of the West of England
A Political Economy of Eco-genocide: The Ecocide-Genocide Nexus
Christine Nanteza, Student Engagement Global Network; Maureen Muwanga Senoga, Kyambogo University
Opposing approaches in dismantling the marginalization of Indigenous Peoples
David Montaluisa, Universidad Intercultural de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas Amawtay Wasi
Rethinking the “Indigenous”: Homogenization, Minoritization, and the Challenge of Plurinationality
Bodhi Ramteke, Advocate, Researcher, and Social Justice Practitioner
Caste and the Condition of Indigeneity: Dalits, Marginalisation, and the Expropriation of Rights
PANEL 3A
Shrinking Space: Indigenous and Minority Self-Determination in the Crisis of Multilateralism
Zoom link:
Chair
Magdalena Ratajczak, Institute of International Studies, University of Wroclaw
Speakers
Stella Pizzato, Independent Researcher/Consultant
The Cruel Irony behind Biodiversity Conservation: Forced Displacement and Fragmentation of Indigenous Peoples
Jarosław Jarząbek, University of Wrocław
Between a rock and a hard place. The Baharna People in Saudi Arabia
Rina Muhaj, UN OHCHR Fellow
Is minority protection still an EU criterion for enlargement countries? Minority struggles in Montenegro in the shadow of geopolitical pressures
Issamaldeen Alshanan, Un Ponte Per ETS
Weaponizing Water Forced Evictions and Ecocide in the Iraqi Marshlands
Mostafa Masjedi Arani, Saint Joseph University Beirut
Land, Home, and Homeland in Jewish–Israeli Legal Thought: Implications for the Palestinian Right to the City
Natalia Pietruszka, University of Wrocław
From exploitation to resistance: Indigenous struggles against environmental and organized crime
PANEL 4A
The Right to Development and the Crisis of Global Governance: Contestations between Multilateralism and Multistakeholderism
Zoom link:
Chair
Rossella De Falco, Law & Development Research Group, Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp
Speakers
Azadeh Chalabi, School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool
The Right to Development as a Human Right to an Enabling Environment for Collective Wellbeing
Issa Souare, Sustainable Development Africa (SDA)
Community Data Sovereignty as a People’s Right to Development in an AI-Driven Order
Camila Bertelli Kodric, University of Perugia
Accountability Mechanisms in the Age of Multistakeholderism: the case of the World Bank
Francesca Mussi, University of Trento
The Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development: Not All Hope Is Lost for the Realization of the Right to Development?
Ludovica Aricò, University of Padova
The International Action Against Child Labour: A Mirror of Evolving Global Dynamics
Himangshu Rathee, The NorthCap University
Indigenous Self-Determination and Resistance in the Ongoing Crisis of Multilateralism: Insights
from India’s Adivasi Communities
16:00-16:30 Human Rights Centre, via Beato Pellegrino, 28 / Coffee Break
17:00-18:30 Human Rights Centre, via Beato Pellegrino, 28
Parallel Research Panels, track B
PANEL 1B
Peoples’ Rights and the Crisis of Multilateralism: Rethinking Collective Claims in a Fragmenting World
Zoom link:
Chair
Lisa Heschl, UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security, University of Graz
Speakers
Adina-Iuliana Deacu, Research Institute for Sustainability at GFZ / Tianmei's World Academy
Reframing Business as Collective Economic Agency: A Systemic Shift Toward Peoples’ Rights
Claire-Marie Beyet, Consultant
Peoples’ Rights and Ecocide: Reclaiming Collective Environmental Justice Amid the Crisis of Multilateralism
Andrea Pelliconi, Southampton Law school; Beya Mousli, University Paris Nanterre
The illusion of multilateralism in WS through demographic engineering, apartheid and denied self-determination
David Montaluisa, Universidad Intercultural de las Nacionalidades y Pueblos Indígenas Amawtay Wasi (Ecuador)
The Right to Self-Determination in Ecuador: Between Normative Recognition and Ontological Denial
Carlo Bortolami, University of Padova; Francesca Fiorese, Diocese of Padova; Sara Santilli, University of Padova
SPIAZZATI: Reclaiming Civic Space among Young People between Work Uncertainty and the Right to Peace
Majd Owda, An-Najah National University; Raed Abubadawia, Arab American University
The Impact of Israeli Settlements on the Palestinian Right to Self-Determination
PANEL 2B
The Human and People’s Right to Peace: What margins of action before a failing international community?
Zoom link:
Chairs
Pietro de Perini and Angelica Vascotto, University of Padova Human Rights Centre "A. Papisca"
Speakers
Zenobia Homan, King's College London; Saman Omar, University of Duhok
Information as peacebuilding: grassroots strategies against chemical weapon misinformation in Kurdistan
John Duncan, School of Advanced Study, University of London
I don't care about human rights
Tancredi Marini, "La Sapienza" Rome University
The role of local authorities for the Right to Peace: the Italian case
Denise Zucchini, Università di Padova; Maria Anna Donati, University of Firenze; Sara Santilli, University of Padova
Beyond Binaries: Mapping Italian Youth Orientations Toward Peace and War
Thi Ngoc Anh Nguyen, University of Padova; Tamar Navdarashvili, University of Milan
From Deepfake to Propaganda: The loopholes of the AI Act in Governing Harmful Synthetic Media
Katarzyna Widlas-Klimsiak, Institute of Law Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences
Disability Rights as a Test Case for Multilateralism: What the UN’s Crisis Means for the Right to Peace
PANEL 3B
Reclaiming Space: Indigenous and Minority Self-Determination in the Crisis of Multilateralism
Zoom link:
Chairs
Peter Johansson, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg and Piergiuseppe Parisi, Centre for Applied Human Rights & York Law School, University of York
Speakers
Philip Wade, Gothenburg University; Malayna Raftopoulos, Aalborg University
Mapuche Resistance and Perpendicularity at the Border
Lamia Yasin, Human Rights Center "A.Papisca"- University of Padova
Reclaiming Belonging: Palestinian Youth Movements in the ’48 territories
Nina Bries Silva, European University Institute
Nasa Indigenous strategic litigation for Mother Earth: Decolonizing the human rights discourse through Indigenous territories
Jordan Thorne, Global Campus of Human Rights
From Marginalisation to Agency: Indigenous Self-Determination in Heritage Governance
Liubov Iashchenko, Sapienza University of Rome
Hybrid Cosmologies and Digital Diplomacy: Siberian Indigenous Peoples in Search of New International Spaces
PANEL 4B
The Right to Peace and to a Healthy Environment in Times of War and Polycrisis
Zoom link:
Chair
Roberto De Vogli, Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation, University of Padova
Speakers
Malayna Raftopoulos, Aalborg University; Doug Specht, University of Westminster
Cultivating Peace through Colombia’s Green Transition
Charalampia Mikropoulou, Aix Marseille University
Weaponizing the Environment in Armed Conflict: Legal Gaps and the Right to Peace under International Humanitarian Law
Maria Fernanda Montes Ribeiro, Maastricht University
Starvation as a Method of Warfare: The Right to Peace and a Healthy Environment in Times of Polycrisis
Mariia Zheltukha, United Nations Development Programme; Dilruba Begüm Kartepe, Strategic Litigation and Research Centre (Ankara)
The Environment as a Weapon, the Environment as Reparation: Rethinking Rights to Peace and a Healthy Environment in Wartime Ukraine
Damien Short, Human Rights Consortium, School of Advanced Studies, University of London
Ecocide and the corporation
Tuesday, 11th November 2025
10:30-12:30 Teatro Ruzante, Riviera Tito Livio 45
Zoom Link: https://unipd.zoom.us/j/89794831108
Closing Plenary Roundtable
Human and People’s Rights in the Collapsing Multilateral Order – Challenges and Ideas from a Practitioner’s Viewpoint
Chairs
Orla Ní Cheallacháin, Global Campus of Human Rights
Pietro de Perini, Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova
Speakers
Martina Pignatti Morano, Un Ponte Per...,
Madiha Fareed, UNDP Huqooq-e-Pakistan II programme
Andrea De Domenico OCHA, Ukraine
Issa Amro, Director of Working for Peace and Justice in the Middle East
Nello Scavo, Avvenire
Maria Fernanda Salas Jimenez, MA student, Human Rights and Multi-level Governance
During the Conference, self-managed groups of students from the MA Degree Programme in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance (HRG) will hold a booth to promote their activities to participants. The groups include the Student Engagement Team (SET), the Advocacy Hub and the Latin-American Collective.