INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FACT-FINDING IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
New York University School of Law
November 1-2, 2013
Conference Announcement, Invitation, and Call for Papers
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (New York University School of Law) is pleased to announce
a major global conference on International Human Rights Fact-Finding in the Twenty-First Century, to be
held in New York on November 1-2, 2013. This conference will bring together leading practitioners and
scholars to facilitate a critical and constructive discussion about the key challenges and opportunities in
international fact-finding, a subject that is fundamental to human rights, but has thus far received far too
little scholarly attention or critical analysis.
Confirmed Speakers
Philip Alston (NYU), Jay Aronson (Carnegie Mellon University), M. Cherif Bassiouni (DePaul University;
Istituto Superiore Internazionale di Scienze Criminali), Theo Boutruche (REDRESS), Claude Bruderlein
(Harvard University), Elora Chowdhury (University of Massachusetts), Rob Grace (Harvard University), Sam
Gregory (WITNESS), Thomas Hammarberg (EU Special Representative to Georgia), Sarah Knuckey (NYU),
Molly Land (New York Law School), Joanne Mariner (Amnesty International), Frédéric Mégret (McGill
University), Obiora Okafor (Osgoode Hall Law School), Diane Orentlicher (American University), Steve
Ratner (University of Michigan), Brian Root (Human Rights Watch), Ken Roth (Human Rights Watch),
Margaret Satterthwaite (NYU), Alex Vitale (Brooklyn College), Alex Whiting (International Criminal Court),
Susan Wolfinbarger (AAAS).
Additional speakers will be announced in the coming months.
Conference Panels and Call for Papers
The confirmed speakers will present new scholarship on the following key issues in human rights fact-finding.
We also invite submissions of additional paper proposals on these key issues:
* Politics and imperialism: In what ways can human rights fact-finding enact or further imperialism,
support injustice hierarchies, and be wielded as a political tool? Which of the methods, principles, and
aims of fact-finding are most problematic? What could a non-imperial or non-elitist fact-finding
mission look like?
* Victims and witnesses: What is the role of witness evidence in fact-finding? How is testimony
obtained, how is it used to construct human rights narratives, and what problems result? To what
extent is fact-finding extractive? How can the need for objective and independent investigations be
balanced with the interests and rights of witnesses and victims, particularly around autonomy,
security, consent, and re-traumatization? How successful are recent efforts to democratize fact-finding,
empower victims, and/or improve the gathering of reliable testimony?
* Enforcement mechanisms and litigation: What is the relationship between fact-finding, enforcement
mechanisms, and litigation? How can the differing goals and mandates of various fact-finders, as well
as institutional competition and siloing, fragment information or undermine accountability? What
fact-finding practices can best contribute to effective complementarity, information-sharing, and
respect for the rights of alleged victims and perpetrators?
* Interdisciplinary expertise and methodologies: How are social science methods influencing the way
human rights fact-finders acquire and synthesize information? How have human rights practitioners
responded to the methodological critiques and techniques being brought to bear on human rights fact-finding from other disciplines? How do such methods enable the field to better—or differently—see or
provide human rights abuses? Do such changes come at a cost?
* Social media, crowd-sourcing, big data: How is the human rights field using new technologies in factfinding? How is this expanding available information on abuses, democratizing fact-finding, and/or
what concerns do new technologies pose for efficacy, utility, accuracy, reliability, safety and ethics?
* International fact-finding guidelines: Is there a need for guidelines or international norms for factfinding? Why does the field resist standardization in this area? Are guidelines possible that would not
be too bureaucratic, stifling, incompatible with grassroots efforts, or too general to be useful?
Conference Registration and Paper Proposal Submission
The conference is open to all academics, students, practitioners, and the general public, but space is limited.
To register to attend, please email: Veerle Opgenhaffen (Executive Director, Center for Human Rights and
Global Justice) at opgenhaffen@exchange.law.nyu.edu. Please include your name, email address, and
affiliation.
To propose a paper for presentation at the conference, please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to
Sarah Knuckey (Director, Initiative on Human Rights Fact-Finding, Center for Human Rights and Global
Justice) at sarah.knuckey@nyu.edu by August 15, 2013. Accepted papers will be published in a volume of
essays, to be edited by Philip Alston and Sarah Knuckey. Presenter conference travel and accommodation
costs will be covered by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.