[News] [Call for Papers] Conference: Decolonizing Human Rights

[Richter Marina]

** Apologies for cross-postings / Please share  **

Call for Papers
2nd International Human Rights Conference
„Decolonising Human Rights: Towards Pluriversality“

January 21-22, 2027, Kolkata, India (hybrid)

Details in the flyer and the brochure attached.

Abstracts are due until October 31st, to be sent to ichr.sxuk at gmail.com.<mailto:ichr.sxuk at gmail.com>


For decades, the international human rights regime has been built on a presumption of universality. The idea that a single, homogenous framework can and should be applied identically across the globe has been the norm. However, in the process of decolonisation, this ‘universalist’ approach is increasingly recognised as an imposition rather than a mere neutral baseline. The twenty-firstcentury discourses have exposed the profound contradictions at the core of the international legal order. While the literature on human rights suggests a concept of universal liberation, the structure of international law, deeply rooted in colonial history and Western jurisprudence, often serves to protect global capital and to establish systemic inequalities. The international legal order often enforces Western liberal priorities, such as ‘hyper-individualism’, absolute private property, anthropocentric capitalism, etc., while delimiting alternative ways of being.


The concept of pluriversality is based on the three foundational pillars. Firstly, shifting from individualism to collectivism. In a pluriversal human rights framework, collective rights, which are frequently displaced by multinationals, such as the rights of indigenous communities, are elevated. Secondly, decentering humans and recognising the rights of Nature. In a pluriversal legal movement, ecosystems are recognised as right-bearing entities. Thirdly, developing epistemic disobedience in international law. In the context of human rights, pluriversality is not cultural relativism; rather, it is the recognition that there are multiple, equally valid ways to understand human dignity, justice, and our relationship with the world(s).


The three-day international conference aims to explore new directions in human rights scholarship by engaging with diverse intellectual frameworks, experiences, and priorities of (ex)colonial voices in the global south and other non-Western contexts. The conference critically examines the premise that decolonisation is not merely a historical event of statehood, but an ongoing, urgent requirement for the whole international legal order. As post-colonial states navigate the complex webs of widening global inequalities, geopolitical instabilities and ecological collapse, the traditional doctrines of international law are increasingly experiencing a legitimacy crisis. By bringing together perspectives from law, social sciences, and humanities, the conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue, explore synergies and divergences in the meaning and scope of decolonial research, and reimagine rights, self-determination, and political organisation by destabilising anthropocentric and humanist assumptions. The conference invites us to propose transformative alternatives to Eurocentric foundations of knowledge systems, human rights and justice within the pluriversal tapestry of entanglement and relational coexistence.



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Prof. Dr. Richter Marina
Full professor in Social Work
HES-SO Valais/Wallis, School of Social Work
marina.richter at hevs.ch
+41 79 204 78 14

Head of the research group CrimSo
hevs.ch/crimso

Recent publications:
Richter, Marina, Julia Emprechtinger & Martin Böhnel. 2026. Centralised and embedded in-house social work in Swiss prisons<https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003717270-16/centralised-embedded-house-social-work-swiss-prisons-marina-richter-julia-emprechtinger-martin-b%C3%B6hnel>: Challenges and opportunities for the resulting roles. In C. Bald & Martinez Herrero (Eds), Routledge International Handbook of Criminal Justice Social Work (p. chapter 13). Routledge.
Böhnel, Martin, Julia Emprechtinger & Marina Richter. 2025. Atmospheres of Trust: Understanding Social Work in Swiss Prisons<https://szsa.ch/2025_13/>. Schweizerische Zeitschrift Für Soziale Arbeit, 33, 1–23.
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