Call for papers - New technologies and coercion: Rethinking torture and ill-treatment in the digital age

This call for papers accompanies the editorial New Technologies and Coercion: A Framework to Rethink Torture (Pérez-Sales, 2026), which proposes a framework for understanding how digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and neurotechnological systems are reshaping the production of coercion, suffering, and control. The editorial argues that torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment do not end where screens begin — that surveillance, algorithmic targeting, digital exposure, and behavioural manipulation can generate severe and persistent harm to individuals and communities in ways that existing legal and clinical frameworks are only beginning to address.
We invite contributions from researchers, clinicians, lawyers, human rights practitioners, and survivors across disciplines and regions. Papers may be empirical, conceptual, legal, or clinical in orientation, and may address individual cases of digitally mediated harm — such as intimate partner surveillance or targeted harassment — as well as collective, structural, or state-level forms of coercion. Interdisciplinary work and submissions from practitioners in the field are especially welcome. Papers will be selected based on relevance, methodological rigour, and contribution to advancing debate. Authors wishing to explore the suitability of a paper before submission are welcome to contact the Editor-in-Chief at pauperez@runbox.com.

Please find the full description of the call for papers here: Call for Papers - New technologies