January 18, 2026 : Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur, has announced a two-day international conference titled Law, Rights and Indigenous Futures: Rethinking Tribal Justice in a Globalized World, scheduled to be held online on March 28 and 29, 2026. The conference is being organised by the School of Law and Humanities through the Centre for Study of Law and Indigenous People.
The conference aims to create a broad interdisciplinary platform to examine questions of justice, rights, culture, and sustainability as they relate to Indigenous and tribal communities. It seeks to move beyond narrow legal or policy frameworks by bringing together perspectives from law, sociology, anthropology, political science, environmental studies, history, women’s studies, and cultural studies. A key focus of the event is to foreground Indigenous knowledge systems, customary laws, and lived experiences alongside constitutional and international human rights standards.
According to the conference concept note, Indigenous communities today face overlapping challenges such as displacement, ecological degradation, cultural erosion, and political marginalisation. At the same time, they possess resilient social structures and ecological wisdom that offer alternative visions of justice and development. The organisers note that the conference is designed to bridge academic silos and encourage holistic conversations that connect theory with practice.
The event places special emphasis on student participation, youth voices, first-generation scholars, and Indigenous researchers, who are often underrepresented in mainstream academic forums. In addition to traditional research papers, the conference invites policy briefs, community case studies, and ethnographic notes, reflecting a commitment to plural forms of knowledge production.
Key thematic areas include customary law and state legal systems, Indigenous rights under international law, restorative justice models, cultural identity, gender and intersectionality, public policy and governance in tribal regions, climate justice, development-induced displacement, and comparative Indigenous struggles across regions such as South Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Selected papers presented at the conference may be considered for publication in an edited volume with an ISBN, subject to a peer review process and compliance with university guidelines. Abstract submissions are due by February 15, 2026, with the conference scheduled to conclude with expert-led discussions involving academics, legal practitioners, policymakers, community leaders, and activists.
The conference is part of HNLU’s broader academic initiatives as it marks two decades of its establishment, reinforcing its focus on socially engaged legal scholarship and interdisciplinary research on rights and justice.
