The ISA Human Rights Section recently held its third joint conference in Istanbul on the theme Human Rights and Change. The conference was co-organized with the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association, the Standing Group on Human Rights and Transition of the European Consortium for Political Research, and the Human Rights Research Committee of the International Political Science Association. It was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System, which was held immediately after. Approximately 120 papers were presented and 150 practitioners and academics registered for the conference. In addition to wide-ranging discussions on a variety of aspects of the theme in the panel sessions, a number of eminent scholars and practitioners addressed various aspects of the theme from academic and practitioner perspectives. Plenary sessions included lectures by: Judge Riza Türmen, Former Turkish Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, currently opposition MP from the Republican People's Party; Edward Mortimer, Fellow of All Souls College Oxford, University and former Director of Communications in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General; and Ruti Teitel, Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, New York Law School. There was also a roundtable of practitioners, including: Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International; Emel Kurma, Helinki Citizen’s Assembly; Matthew Preston, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Manal Tibe, National Council for Human Rights (Egypt) and former member of the Egyptian Constituent Assembly.

This conference furthered the goal of creating space for human rights scholars and practitioners to present work and exchange views, as well as contributing to the development of a global network of human rights researchers.

We are greatly indebted to ISA for providing organizational support, Kadir Has University for being excellent hosts, and ACUNS for its support.

Kurt Mills, Program Chair