What does liberty mean at sea, and how can it be protected in practice?
BlueRights Working Group 2 invites scholars and stakeholders to submit abstracts for the 2027 International Conference on Protection of Liberty at Sea, taking place on 11–12 February 2027 at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy.
The conference will examine the protection of individual liberty in maritime spaces, moving beyond traditional State-centred understandings of freedom at sea to focus on the people who live, work, travel, are confined, exploited, rescued, or abandoned in maritime contexts. Contributions are invited on topics including detention and confinement at sea, migration-control measures, seafarer abandonment, forced labour, trafficking, modern slavery in fisheries, maritime enforcement, State jurisdiction, private actors’ responsibilities, accountability, access to justice, and remedies.
Legal, socio-legal, and interdisciplinary perspectives are welcome, including contributions from human rights law, the law of the sea, maritime law, criminal law, migration studies, security studies, public health, anthropology, sociology, and related fields.
Applicants should submit an abstract of up to 800 words and a short biographical note of up to 250 words in a single document by 27 September 2026 to [email protected] and [email protected].
Selected participants will be notified by 25 October 2026 and invited to submit a draft paper by 24 January 2027. Papers presented at the conference will be considered for inclusion in a peer-reviewed edited volume on freedom, human rights, and maritime governance.
Participants whose proposals are selected will be reimbursed for travel and accommodation expenses in accordance with the Annotated Rules for COST Actions.
Download the call for abstracts here: