CONFERENCE: Contrasting Minority and Indigenous Rights in Practice

UK Network on Minority Groups and Human Rights
Conference: Contrasting Minority and Indigenous Rights in Practice
28 October 2013: Call for Papers and Panels

The UK Network on Minority Groups and Human Rights was established in May 2009 to provide a specialist interdisciplinary forum for scholars working in the area of minority and indigenous rights to meet and discuss new developments, focusing in particular on the development of links between early career and more established researchers working in this area. More information on the Network can be found here: http://www.sas.ac.uk/hrc/networks. The third Network conference will be held at Senate House, School of Advanced Study, University of London on 28 October 2013. Funding for the workshop has been secured from the Human Rights Consortium at the School of Advanced Study.

The main theme of this conference will be to examine the contrasts between the minority rights and indigenous rights legal framework, discourse and practice by juxtaposing the two regimes on panels focused on a specific theme. For example, a panel may include papers on the experience of extractive industries by both minorities and indigenous peoples to highlight how the different legal frameworks translate to practice, how communities are working together or in conflict, and how states have responded differently to these distinct groups. We aim to raise some critical questions about the evolution of the legal frameworks and tensions in practice that have resulted from distinct protection tools.

In addition, the conference will include panels and papers on other themes pertaining to minority rights and indigenous peoples’ rights. Thus, we are making both an open call for papers on any theme related to the Network’s work and a call for papers and panels that address the specific theme of this year’s conference.


Themes of the conference include:

• The evolution of minority and indigenous protection: historical, current and future international legal frameworks
• The distinctions and overlaps between minority rights protection and the rights of indigenous persons
• Legal/practical tensions in the legitimate claims of minorities and indigenous peoples
• Minority and indigenous rights in Europe

Proposals for papers and/or panels addressing any of these themes should be submitted to Chloe Pieters at hrc@sas.ac.uk by 4 September 2013. Proposals should not exceed 500 words and should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae. The Planning Committee will group stand-alone paper proposals into coherent panels on the conference main theme or parallel themes. We would welcome papers from a range of different disciplines and from both early career and more established researchers. Selection decisions will be made by 16 September 2013. The Planning Committee will select papers on the basis of merit and link with overall conference and network themes. The Network will support the publication of selected papers in an appropriate collection.

A small amount of funding is available to support travel costs of some speakers; please indicate in your proposal if you would like to request such funding and an indicative budget. 

Corinne Lennox (Human Rights Consortium, SAS) and Tawhida Ahmed (University of Reading)