Call for Papers - 2026 AHRI Conference “Enduring Contributions and Challenges: The 60-Year and 20-Year Legacies of the International Covenants and the Human Rights Council”, deadline: 25 April 2026
From 4 to 6 November 2026, the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI) Annual Conference 2026 will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on “Enduring Contributions and Challenges: The 60-Year and 20-Year Legacies of the International Covenants and the Human Rights Council“.
The 2026 AHRI Annual Conference takes place during a landmark year, marking the 60th anniversary of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), alongside the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The call for panel or paper proposals is now out and submissions of proposals must be sent before 25 April 2026 to ahri2026@geneva-academy.ch.
The proposals must fall within the following tracks:
- Track 1 - 60 Years of Covenant Rights
- Track 2 - International, Regional and Local Dimensions of Covenant Rights
- Track 3 - From Norms to Accountability: The UN Human Rights Council and its Supervisory Mechanisms
- Track 4 - The Covenants and Council: Beyond 60 and 20
To read more about the instructions: https://geneva-academy.ch/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/AHRI-Call-for-Papers-2026.pdf
The conference will create a space for meaningful exchange among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, diplomats, researchers, independent human rights specialists, and civil society actors, focusing on the practical implementation of the International Covenants, the effectiveness of their relative Committees, and the impact of the Human Rights Council's work.
The 2026 AHRI Conference is co-organized by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (Geneva Academy), in collaboration with the Law Department of the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), and the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva (UNIGE), and the Global Campus of Human Rights.
The Conference will be held as a hybrid event.
Further details on registration, program and scholarships can be found at: https://geneva-academy.ch/call-for-papers-enduring-contributions-and-challenges-the-60-year-and-20-year-legacies-of-the-international-covenants-and-the-human-rights-council/