Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20 March 2026

Decision whether abstract has been selected: 01 May 2026

Deadline for submission of full papers: 15 September 2026

This call for papers is also available as a PDF.

The International Review of the Red Cross invites proposals for a thematic edition entitled “Addressing the Human Cost of Weapons: Past, Present and Future”.

Weapons continue to generate profound and long‑lasting human costs in armed conflicts, including civilian deaths and injuries, displacement, destruction of livelihoods and infrastructure, environmental damage, and psychosocial suffering. Against this background, this Call for Papers invites proposals to critically assess whether legal and policy frameworks which prohibit, restrict or otherwise regulate weapons sufficiently engage with and address the human dimension of weapons‑related harm.

This special edition aims to deepen understanding of how the human cost of weapons has been, continues to be, or can be better prevented, mitigated and addressed. Focusing on humanitarian disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation, the Review welcomes contributions that analyze past efforts, ongoing attempts, and possible future approaches, bringing law, policy, practice and evidence into the analysis. We particularly encourage work that does not merely describe weapons-related harm, but advances thinking on practicable pathways for law, policy and humanitarian action.

Call for Proposals

This Review edition will explore the human cost of weapons and how to address it from multiple angles (legal, policy, operational, humanitarian, historical, military, and diplomatic). Submissions may cover, but are not limited to, the following topics pertaining to all types of weapons:

• Humanitarian disarmament and arms control: national, regional and multilateral efforts by States, international organizations and civil society to regulate weapons in order to reduce their human cost;
• Comparative national or regional analysis of humanitarian disarmament and arms control efforts that have successfully reduced weapons-related harm;
• The interaction between disarmament and arms control processes and humanitarian objectives, including victim assistance, remediation, rehabilitation and community recovery;
• The humanitarian implications of non‑proliferation regimes: how non‑proliferation efforts intersect with human security and human rights;
• The role of States, international organizations (including regional), civil society, the components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, as well as other stakeholders in shaping how international humanitarian law can mitigate the human cost of weapons;
• Legal and policy gaps in regulating weapons to protect civilians related to arms transfers, transparency, accountability, weapon review mechanisms, and export‑controls;
• Humanitarian responses to weapons‑related harm: victim assistance; medical, psychosocial and social‑economic rehabilitation; environmental remediation; community resilience and recovery;
• Intersectional dimensions of weapons‑related harm, including considerations such as gender, age, disability, ethnicity, and socio‑economic status;
• Forward-looking analysis on emerging and future weapons and weapon systems and their potential human cost, with suggested approaches for mitigating the harm they could cause;
• How legal and policy frameworks could adapt to safeguard human protection, including new approaches to weapons governance.

Submitting your proposal

We invite anyone interested to submit a proposal by 20 March 2026. That proposal should consist of an abstract of maximum 500 words, as well as a biography of maximum 300 words. You will be notified about the status of your proposal by 01 May 2026. If you are invited to submit a full-length article, a draft of your completed article will be due no later than 15 September 2026. All articles that meet initial screening criteria will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

If you are invited to submit a paper based on your proposal, the target length for a traditional article should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words, including footnotes – though we are open to proposals for other formats, such as opinion notes.

Our selection process will prioritize innovate proposals that have clear potential to contribute to and advance legal and policy debates on this topic in the years ahead. In line with our ongoing commitment to provide a space for a diverse array of voices in this field, we encourage submissions by established and emerging voices alike. Proposals can be co-authored, and may also be submitted in Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian.

In your 500-word abstract, please include:

1. Proposed title;
2. Main arguments you intend to develop;
3. Explanation of how your topic adds to the existing literature.

Please send your abstract and bio as a single Word document to review@icrc.org and ensure that “Addressing the Human Cost of Weapons: Past, Present and Future” is in the email’s subject line.