Call for Papers for the
32^nd edition

Possible Futures: Is there a new normal?

Conectas Human Rights is launching a call for contributions for the 32^nd edition of Sur – International Journal on Human Rights, to be published in December 2022. Preference will be given to voices of the Global South.

This edition will focus on understanding the scenario that the current geopolitical context creates for the promotion and defence of human rights and for organizations in their multiple forms of action in this field. This scenario has been marked by the worsening of an economic, migratory and climate crisis; important global feminist and antiracist mobilizations, on one side, and the action of ultraconservative groups, on the other; processes leading to the breakdown of democracy, which have been influenced by disinformation campaigns and hate speech in different parts of the world; and more recently, the escalation of military confrontation with the war in the Ukraine, which has brought significant changes in the configuration of global power to light.

Human rights organizations are grappling with the challenges raised by this (post)pandemic panorama of political tension, economic uncertainty and shifting paradigms of power. And these challenges, limitations and possibilities, as well as the various ways in which possible futures are being imagined and built, primarily in the Global South, are precisely what this edition aims to explore.

Therefore, we are interested in in-depth and critical discussion on the following subtopics:

1. New configurations of global power: The rise of the far right all over the world continues to be an enormous challenge for civil society. This phenomenon has been going on for decades,11. Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, War for Eternity: Inside Bannon’s Far-Right Circle of Global Power Brokers (Nova York: Dey Street Books, 2020); Camil Ungureanu and Alexandra Popartan, "La revolución conservadora y la transformación del estado de derecho". CIDOB, 2019, accessed August 31, 2022, https://www.cidob.org/es/articulos/cidob_report/n1_3/la_revolucion_conservadora_y_la_transformacion_del_estado_de_derecho. and despite the reactions and actions of the human rights movement, the cases of setbacks are increasing, specifically in the sexual and reproductive rights and LGBTI+ rights agenda. Authoritarian governments have been dismantling rights and persecuting minorities while they attack democratic institutions. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic underscored the need for a strong state capable of responding quickly to crises, as well as the need to strengthen social welfare policies.

New power dynamics have emerged in a global context that, with the Ukraine war as its apex, exposes the growing antagonism between Russia and China on one side and the United States and the European Union on the other. Besides the recognition of an emerging multipolarity, there are the challenges inherent to this new space of coexistence between divergent powers and values.

In view of the above, we would like to receive pieces that seek to answer or dialogue with the following questions:

• What are the main elements, including new actors, of the reconfiguration of power between states and how do organizations and social movements properly analyse the changes underway?
• How does this geopolitical rearrangement affect the grammar of human rights, including its language and mechanisms?
• In this new international configuration, what role will multilateral human rights forums play? How to evaluate, for example, the role that China is increasingly playing in these forums?
• How to create actions of transnational solidarity in the face of multipolarity and heterogeneous values?
• What are the agendas and themes that allow us to build mobilization efforts, articulating the local and international spheres effectively?

2. Structural challenges for NGOs: New work models adapted to the current global context, initiatives to address inequality, anti-racism policies, mechanisms for combatting all forms of discrimination and harassment, and new organizational models in terms of hierarchy and structure were central concerns, heightened in the (post)pandemic context, for human rights organizations around the world.

Recognizing these challenges is an important step to (i) understand the internal impacts of a scenario of change and uncertainty; (ii) know and analyze the processes and/or mechanisms that organizations used to respond to the crisis and restructure themselves (when possible); and (iii) instigate reflection on the possibility of building institutional and inter-institutional processes of well-being and cooperation. Some questions that interest us in this debate are:

• What opportunities and challenges do the new forms of work organization (online or remote) create for organizations and collective movements? How to leverage the opportunities? How to overcome the challenges?
• How are organizations and activists taking on the agenda of physical and mental health care? What practices have been most effective? What are the key learnings?
• How has combating racism and dicrimination influenced internal processes and institutional policy of human rights organizations? Have these changes had a real impact on the agendas of the organizations?

3.Technologies, disinformation and democratic processes: The information war is undoubtedly a defining issue of our times. Aggressive fake news campaigns contributed significantly to the promotion of misleading information on Covid-19 and the low adherence to vaccine schedules in many countries. Similarly, electoral agendas around the world have been strongly influenced by the questionable use of social media and digital media. Contamination of the informational ecosystem happens on different levels and has become an urgent task on the democratic human rights agenda. In regards to this issue, we are interested in responses to the following questions:

• What are the implications of misinformation for social justice, public debate, and democratic order?
• How do we respond to misinformation while protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms?
• What strategies have been most effective in combating misinformation and fighting hate speech, especially on digital platforms?

Contributions (in Portuguese, English or Spanish) of between 7,000 and 20,000 characters (with spaces) should be submitted to the Sur Journal via the email artigo.sur@conectas.org. The following formats will be accepted:

• ESSAYS: In-depth analyses on any of the questions raised above, preferably papers that address topics of international importance and/or presents a comparative analysis on different countries.
• CASE STUDIES: Articles on civil society mobilisations, advocacy strategies, counter narratives and other responses that analyse the impacts of the strategies used.
• INSTITUTIONAL OPINION PIECES: Shorter papers on sustainability, security and well-being and alternative fundraising methods in view of the repression of civil society.
• ART WORK: Recognising the importance of communicating with a broader audience on human rights issues, Sur Journal is seeking works of art, such as collections of photographs or cartoons, videos or poems that convey a specific message on human rights (which may be accompanied by a brief explanatory note, if necessary).

The final deadline for submissions is October 2, 2022.