Sixty Years of the International Covenants on Human Rights
Online International Conference – 16 December 2026 (Human Rights Day)
IPSA Research Committee 26 on Human Rights, in collaboration with the Journal of Global Human Rights
On 16 December 1966, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 2200 A (XXI), opening for signature the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Together with the Universal Declaration, they form the International Bill of Human Rights. Sixty years later, their promise of freedom from fear and want is still unfulfilled for much of humanity, and the consensus that sustained them is under strain from democratic backsliding, armed conflict, rising inequality, the climate emergency and rapid technological change.
To mark this anniversary on Human Rights Day, IPSA Research Committee 26 on Human Rights invites scholars to an online international conference reflecting on what the Covenants have achieved, what remains unfinished, and what challenges lie ahead. We welcome theoretical, empirical and comparative contributions from political science, philosophy, law, sociology, international relations, history and related disciplines.
Panels
- Sixty years of the Covenants: history, legacy and indivisibility. The drafting history and the decision to split the rights into two treaties; Cold War divisions; universality and indivisibility from Tehran 1968 to Vienna 1993 and beyond; whether the Covenants still provide a shared normative language.
- Civil rights in the digital age. Freedom of expression, hate speech and disinformation; privacy, surveillance and artificial intelligence; freedom of religion or belief; equality and non-discrimination under the ICCPR.
- Political rights and the quality of democracy. Article 25 ICCPR and the right to take part in public affairs; democratic backsliding and emergency powers; elections, deliberation and the digital public sphere; the political rights of migrants and non-citizens.
- Economic and social rights: from aspiration to enforcement. Progressive realisation and minimum core obligations; justiciability and the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR; rights to health, housing, education and work; austerity; universal versus targeted entitlements.
- Cultural rights, minorities and identity. Article 27 ICCPR and Article 15 ICESCR; Indigenous peoples; recognition and assimilation; tensions between group rights, individual autonomy and gender equality; language, religion and cultural heritage.
- Monitoring, compliance and the future of the treaty system. Treaty bodies, individual communications and state reporting; treaty body reform; the interaction between the UN system, regional human rights systems and domestic courts; the 2030 Agenda; new challenges such as climate change and migration.
Format
The conference will be held entirely online and is free of charge. Presentations will last approximately 15 minutes and will be followed by comments from the Discussant and an open debate. Sessions will follow Central European Time (UTC+1), taking participants’ time zones into account. Connection details will be sent to speakers and registered attendees before the event.
Submission of abstracts
Please send an abstract of up to 400 words in English, indicating your preferred panel, together with your name, institutional affiliation, email address and a biographical note of up to 100 words. Abstracts should be sent to humanrights@webphilosophia.com with the subject line “RC26 Interim Conference 2026”.
Each participant may present only one paper as first author. Co-authored papers are welcome. We particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers and doctoral students.
Important dates
- Abstract submission deadline: 22 November 2026
- Notification of acceptance: 29 November 2026
- Publication of the programme: 1 December 2026
- Conference: 16 December 2026
- Full paper submission for the special issue: 30 March 2027
Publication
Selected papers may be considered for a special issue of the Journal of Global Human Rights devoted to the sixtieth anniversary of the Covenants. Full papers must be submitted through the journal’s online system and will undergo its ordinary double-anonymous peer review by at least two reviewers; presentation at the conference does not guarantee publication.
The Journal of Global Human Rights is an international and interdisciplinary journal affiliated with IPSA RC26. It is fully open access under a Creative Commons licence, charges no submission fees or article processing charges, and allows authors to retain copyright. Articles receive Crossref DOIs, and the journal follows COPE guidelines, including a policy on the disclosure of generative AI use. Author guidelines and templates are available at https://journalglobalhumanrights.webphilosophia.com/index.php/OJS
Contact and further information
Email: humanrights@webphilosophia.com
IPSA RC26: http://rc26.ipsa.org
Human Rights Blog: https://humanrights.webphilosophia.com
We look forward to receiving your proposals and to celebrating Human Rights Day together.
