IWGIA condemns the cancellation of RightsCon 2026 in Zambia as a blatant attack on human rights defenders, civil society and civic space

Written on 05 May 2026. Posted in News

The decision preventing RightsCon, widely recognised as the world’s largest summit on human rights and technology, from proceeding in Lusaka, only days before the event was due to begin, is deeply alarming. RightsCon 26 was expected to bring together more than 2,600 participants in person and 1,100 online, representing over 150 countries and 750 institutions. Its cancellation, after more than a year of planning, partnership and preparation with the Zambian Government, is a serious obstruction of one of the world’s most important spaces for dialogue on digital rights, human rights, technology governance, surveillance, data protection, internet access, artificial intelligence, platform accountability and freedom of expression.

Access Now has stated that it believes foreign interference was the reason RightsCon 2026 could not proceed in Zambia or online. It has further reported that the Zambian authorities demanded further disclosure of key thematic issues to ensure “alignment” with Zambia’s national values and broader public interest, and that informal conditions were communicated requiring the moderation of specific topics and the exclusion of communities at risk, including Taiwanese civil society participants, from in-person and online participation.

Such obstruction is unacceptable. Human rights spaces must never be conditioned on political approval of who may participate, which communities may be heard, or which subjects may be discussed. The rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association must be protected without intimidation, surveillance, discrimination or arbitrary interference.

For Indigenous Peoples, digital rights and civic space are inseparable from the exercise of collective rights. Indigenous communities rely on secure communication, community-led data, digital documentation, mapping, media and advocacy platforms to defend their lands, territories and resources; document violations; strengthen self-determined development; protect Indigenous knowledge; and participate in decisions that affect their lives and futures. When civic space is closed, the impacts are felt most sharply by those already facing discrimination, exclusion and threats.

The cancellation of RightsCon is a direct attack on the spaces where human rights defenders build solidarity, share strategies and confront the growing threats posed by surveillance, disinformation, internet shutdowns, data extraction, digital repression and unaccountable technologies. It also raises grave concerns about the reach of transnational repression and its impact on civil society, including communities and movements already operating under pressure.

UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Gina Romero, in her statement on the cancellation says that, “This decision sets a deeply worrisome precedent for the hosting of international assemblies worldwide.” 

IWGIA stands in solidarity with Access Now, the RightsCon team, Zambia’s digital rights community, Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, civil society partners and all delegates whose work was meant to be represented in Lusaka.

We call on the Government of Zambia to respect and uphold its obligations to protect freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and to ensure that human rights defenders, journalists, civil society organisations, Indigenous Peoples’ representatives and digital rights advocates can gather and work safely, freely and without intimidation. Further, we call on governments, donors, international institutions and technology actors to recognise that attacks on digital rights spaces are attacks on democracy and human rights. The protection of civic space, online and offline, must remain central to international cooperation, development programming and democratic accountability.

Tags: Human rights