Focusing particularly on Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which deals with education, and with an eye on Human Rights Day in 2008 - December 10 - the call for papers emphasizes the following questions:

• What is the role of distance education in the implementation of the right - or access - to education?
• How is distance education involved when education is seen as a right? What is its position in educational policy, as a factor of quality and an instrument for liberty?
  What has been the impact of distance education on access to education? What models, practices, and policies have expanded access?

Articles may include scrutiny of specific populations such as the disabled, those who are mobile, or in isolated areas; those with economic barriers; and may deal with broad areas of effective practices, technological developments, educational finance policies, education-business partnerships, or lifelong learning initiatives.

The theme can be approached from multiple points of view: pedagogical, sociological, economic, political, or legal.

The collaborating journals are the Asian Journal of Distance Education, Distances et savoirs, EURODL, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network, IRRODL, and Open Praxis.

Final texts selected by each participating journal - according to the normal scientific process of anonymous review - will be published in their original language on a dedicated website with open access; articles will also be published separately by each journal.

Authors will benefit from wide international dissemination, and their works will make up a common international reference regarding distance education and the universal question of the right to education.

The deadline for the submission of proposals (500 to 1000 words) for articles is January 31, 2007. Authors of the abstracts selected for publication will be notified by April 1, 2007.