Call for Papers: 3rd Annual ChYRP International Conference on Children's Rights - Centering Children Here and Now (14-15 December 2026, Jerusalem)

The Child and Youth Rights Program (ChYRP) sits within the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. ChYRP promotes research, teaching and dissemination of knowledge on the rights of children aged 0 to 18, and has held an annual international conference since 2024.

The third edition, Centering Children Here and Now, takes place in Jerusalem on 14 and 15 December 2026. The second edition, World in Flux: Child and Youth Rights in an Age of Radical Uncertainty, was held on 8-9 December 2025 at the Faculty of Law.

Children today grow up in the shadow of futures they did not make. Armed conflict, the climate crisis and rapid technological change, including the rise of artificial intelligence and its consequences for work, knowledge and social life, generate deep uncertainty about the world to come. These conditions shape children's daily lives, their sense of safety, their aspirations and their rights.

Much of the discourse around these challenges treats children primarily as the future's stake, as citizens-in-the-making to be prepared, protected and equipped. The organisers argue that this framing, however well intentioned, risks eclipsing a foundational principle of children's rights: that children are rights-holders now, in the lives they are already living. The conference takes that tension as its central concern and asks what children need today as full participants in the present world, how their own voices about uncertainty and crisis are heard, and how law, policy and practice respond or fail to respond.

• Children as rights-holders in the present: participation, protection and identity in conditions of instability
• The tension between future-oriented preparation and children's present-centred rights and experiences
• Children's mental health and well-being under conditions of radical uncertainty, with attention to intersecting social determinants and the challenges facing marginalised and minority groups
• Artificial intelligence and childhood: the impact of AI systems on children's privacy, autonomy, education and well-being, and the legal and ethical safeguards required to protect their rights here and now
• Children's voices and meaningful participation in responses to global and local crises
• Theoretical frameworks for understanding childhood in unstable physical and virtual realities
• Strategies, interventions and legal frameworks for advancing children's rights amid global uncertainty

The academic committee also welcomes proposals on other relevant and contemporary issues in children's rights.

The conference is interdisciplinary and brings together scholars from law, social work, sociology, psychology, public health, anthropology, education, criminology and public policy. It engages the theme from diverse theoretical perspectives and through a wide range of methodological approaches.

The call does not restrict submissions by nationality or institution. It states that applicants travelling from outside Israel may contact ChYRP earlier to inquire about their participation, so international scholars, including those based in India, are within its contemplated pool.

• Individual paper presentation - an abstract of up to 350 words, the title, keywords, an academic CV and contact information.
• Panel - a panel title and general description of up to 350 words, the name of the panel chair or discussant, panel keywords, an abstract of 350 words for each of 3 to 4 papers, short bios and contact information for all participants.
• Author meets readers roundtable - the title, the name of the roundtable chair, an abstract of 350 words describing the book or books to be discussed, the names of 1 to 3 discussants, short bios and contact information for all participants including the author.

Proposals must be sent by email to chyrp@mail.huji.ac.il on or before 31 August 2026. There is no online submission portal and the call states no submission fee.

Applicants should expect notification of the academic committee's decision in September 2026. Anyone travelling from outside Israel is invited to contact ChYRP ahead of that notification to discuss participation arrangements.

• Prof. Tali Gal, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Law and Institute of Criminology (Chair)
• Prof. Sarah Abu-Kaf, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Conflict Management and Resolution Program
• Prof. Olga Khazov-Gurvich, Visiting Researcher, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Law
• Prof. Barak Medina, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Law
• Prof. Corey Shadimah, University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Social Work
• Prof. Yuval Shany, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Law

The conference is an in-person event in Jerusalem. The call for papers does not mention an online or hybrid track, a registration fee, travel funding, or publication of the papers in a journal or edited volume. Applicants who need any of those confirmed should write to ChYRP before submitting.