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Call for Papers Theme: Critical Exploration of Human Rights Subtitle: When Human Rights become Part of the Problem Type: 23rd Irish European Law Forum Institution: University College Dublin Location: Online Date: 7.–8.5.2021 Deadline: 12.3.2021 __________________________________________________ Human rights advocates are largely insular, offensive, and lacking introspection in terms of the ways in which human rights can potentially cause a variety of undesired outcomes. Consequently, critics of human rights are often derided or dismissed as undermining the entire human rights agenda. However, immanent criticism is not about making human rights weaker but stronger. Human rights, as a set of normative ideals, norms, and values, promoted through networks of institutions and people, are deeply political and, as such, have a varying impact in different political settings. In the last two decades, within the community of human rights scholars and practitioners, a new field of critical thinking on human rights has emerged, showcasing a range of unsought outcomes produced unintentionally through the implementation of human rights agendas. Critical explorations of human rights have also re-examined the potential for human rights, as conceived beyond hegemonic liberalism, to drive radical transformations of law and society (for an overview of such works, Stump 2019). In fact, human rights programmes, policies and practices may cause new forms of social inequalities and marginalization (David 2020), often by ignoring the struggle for economic rights (Moyn 2018). They also, at times, promote violent action (Bob 2012; Perugini and Gordon 2015). A number of researchers have successfully demonstrated that human rights became commodified through its alliance with consumption, consumerism and capitalism, effectively mitigating any political space for change (Douzinas 2000, Hopgood 2006, Nolan 2011, Pruce 2019), and becoming non-threatening to the structures of domination (Perugini and Gordon 2015). Others have debated about rights inflation and whether framing social grievances as human rights issues have limiting attempts to successfully address systemic social problems (Clément 2018). Keynote Speaker: ‘Human Rights and the Humanization of War’ Professor Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at Yale Law School and Professor of History at Yale University Professor Moyn’s areas of interest include international law, human rights, the law of war, and legal thought, in both historical and current perspective. He has written several books in the fields of European intellectual history and human rights history, including The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (2010), and edited or coedited a number of others. His most recent books are Christian Human Rights (2015) and Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World (2018). He is currently working on a new book on the origins and significance of humane war. This two-day online conference aims at critically exploring those undesired outcomes that human rights promotion may lead to on the ground. We are seeking to address the downsides and shortcomings of the promotion and implementation of the human rights agenda, asking ‘what happens when it becomes counterproductive?’ This conference will cover a wide spectrum of topics from a variety of disciplinary approaches including in sociology, law, politics, and history. The following topics and themes will be particularly relevant: - Uses and Misuses of Human Rights: Examples from around the Globe - Human Rights and Inequality - Human Rights and Violence - Human Rights in a Time of Crisis (including Covid-19 crisis, climate change, migration crisis) - Institutional Perspective on Human Rights The conference will include panels (20 min presentations) and roundtables (10 min presentations). The Conference Committee will decide where the accepted papers will be allocated. The accepted presenters will be notified upon their acceptance. Please email an abstract of no more than 300 words to the conference organisers, Dr. Paris and Dr. David: marieluce.pa...@ucd.ie & lea.da...@ucd.ie Abstract submission deadline: Friday 12 March 2021 Acceptance notification: Friday 2 April 2021 Contact: Marie-Luce Paris & Lea David UCD Sutherland School of Law UCD School of Sociology University College Dublin Ireland Email: marieluce.pa...@ucd.ie lea.da...@ucd.ie __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/interphil@list.polylog.org/ __________________________________________________