International conference
“What Truth? Evidence as Politics in Human Rights Courts”
The DISSECT research project (ERC) is devoted to the study of evidence in international human rights adjudication—defined as the three human rights regional courts and related commissions, as well as the quasi-judicial UN treaty bodies.
Focusing on truth and truth-seeking, DISSECT’s final conference will reflect upon the following questions:
- Should the pursuit of factual truth be considered an essential function of human rights adjudication? Why/why not?
- How are the various adjudicatory institutions studied approaching truth-seeking? What factors may account for divergences in their approaches?
- How do jurisprudential tools—evidentiary concepts, rules or principles—facilitate the establishment of the true facts of cases? Can such tools also serve to suppress factual truth?
- What role do extra-legal—social, political, historical, cultural, economic, organisational, etc.—factors play in the evidentiary processes studied?
- Truth being multi-dimensional, which of its many possible facets—as, e.g., objective or subjective, forensic or impressionistic, whole or partial, procedural or substantive, personal or collective—should concern human rights adjudication?
- How do various understandings of truth interact and compete in actual proceedings?
- Given the many deceptions that enter some proceedings, would it be useful to think of evidence in human rights adjudication as a Foucauldian regime of truth as well as one of falsity?
- Does our post-truth era of ‘unknowers’ and epistemic distrust lend increased saliency to the above questions?
We invite scholars and practitioners of various backgrounds and experiences to contribute a research paper based on any valid research method, including, in a non-exhaustive list:
- the dissection of one specific judgment
- the doctrinal analysis of evidentiary principles
- cross-institutional comparison
- ethnographic observations
- conceptual and theoretical reflections
Logistics
- Participation: in-person and required for the full duration of the conference, to encourage open and in-depth discussions between the participants.
- Location: Mas Boronat, nested in the Catalonian hills, one hour away by car from Barcelona.
- Costs at the charge of participants: €150 conference fee (payable upon DISSECT’s invitation to register); transport to and from Mas Boronat; and, if applicable, visa fees for entry into the European Union.
- Costs covered by DISSECT: Accommodation at Mas Boronat from 7 to 9 September 2026, including meals (vegetarian).
- Scholarships: A limited number of fee-waivers and/or travel grants will be made available to participants facing financial constraints. Please indicate if you intend to apply for this support in the event your abstract is selected.
- Accessibility: We are committed to inclusivity. Please inform us of any mobility, dietary, childcare, or other needs, and we shall do our best to accommodate them.
- Publication plans: We intend to invite selected conference papers for publication in special issues we shall edit in high-ranking academic journals.
How to Apply:
Only via this link, which requests the following information:
- Title of submission
- Abstract (maximum 300 words)
- Short biography, including name and affiliation (maximum 150 words)
- Contact details
- Confirmation of your availability to attend all three days of the conference
- Whether you intend to apply to DISSECT for a fee waiver or travel grant
Timeline
- Abstract submission deadline: 22 December 2025
- Invitation of selected participants: 23 January 2026
- Submission of draft papers (at least 3,000 words): 15 June 2026
- Conference: 7-9 September 2026
Contact
For any queries, please reach out via dissect.erc@ugent.be
This conference is an output of DISSECT: Evidence in International Human Rights Adjudication, a Horizon 2020 research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC-AdG-2018-834044) and led by Prof. Marie-Bénédicte Dembour. For more information see https://dissect.ugent.be/.