ivr
IVR2022
SW11
DIGNITY AND THE RIGHT TO HOPE
CONVENOR: JUAN RIOFRIO
Years ago Tillich said that “nobody can live without hope” (1965) in a paper dedicated to the right to hope. Hope is an ethical, existential and theological topic with significant consequences in the legal system and, especially, in the human rights framework. As the European Court of Human Rights said, to deny prisoners “the experience of hope would be to deny a fundamental aspect of their humanity and, to do that, would be degrading” (Vinter and others v. United Kingdom, 2013).
The right to hope has been mentioned in various obiter dicta of the U.K. and American case-law of the last century, and in the last decade it has achieved formal recognition as an autonomous right of those who suffer life imprisonment. A milestone here is Graham v. Florida (2010), where the U.S. Supreme Court finally touched on the issue of youthful hope in prison. Three years later, the European Court of Human Rights will give a new twist to the matter in Vinter and others v. United Kingdom (2013). Pope Francis has also entered the debate with an original proposal on this right, which he has come to qualify as “the first and most fundamental human right.” Pontifical doctrine presents jurists with no small challenges that still remain to be solved. In the last years, many jurists, theologists and activists are also advocating for a formal recognition of the right to hope in a better future for the next generations, hope in a healthy environment, in peace, and in the improvement of other human rights.
Is it possible to hope for a better future? Is it a right? This workshop aims to analyze both questions.

Registration of proposals
We welcome non-solicited proposals from any philosophical or legal background, to participate in this Special Workshop. To register here, please follow this process:
a) Email the Convenor Prof. Juan Carlos Riofrio (jcriofrio@strathmore.edu), informing about the topic of your conference.
b) Fill out the registration form provided for anyone who wants to participate in the IVR2022 Conference, at https://www.ivr2022.org/registration/.
c) Send an email to the Convenor providing the Title and abstract that were registered on the website.
The registrations deadline is the same provided for all participants of the IVR2022 Conference (see https://www.ivr2022.org/schedule-fees/).