Access Now, the organiser of RightsCon, confirmed the 14th edition of the world’s largest digital human rights conference will not proceed — in Zambia or online — after the Zambian government blocked the event just days before it was scheduled to open.
RightsCon 2026 was scheduled to take place in Lusaka from 5 to 8 May, expected to draw over 5,000 delegates from around the world. The conference brings together advocates, technologists, academics, and policymakers working at the intersection of human rights and technology. Many participants were already in the air or on the ground when the decision landed.
Access Now wrote to registered attendees:
“It is with heavy hearts that we share: RightsCon will not proceed in Zambia or online. We understand this news is deeply upsetting for our community and while we know everyone has questions, our goal right now is to notify you of the event’s status because many of you have imminent travel plans. We do not recommend registered participants travel to Lusaka for RightsCon.”
A Government That Changed Its Position
As recently as last month, Zambia’s Ministry of Technology and Science signalled that preparations were on track. A post on the ministry’s website welcomed the conference and emphasised its “alignment with Zambia’s national development agenda.”
Photos showed RightsCon Director Nikki Gladstone briefing government officials alongside Richard Mulonga, Chief Executive Officer of Bloggers of Zambia, a digital rights organisation that served as the local civil society partner for the event.
Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati announced the postponement on 28 April, citing incomplete security clearances and the need for further consultations. “In particular, certain invited speakers and participants remain subject to pending administrative and security clearances, which have not yet been concluded,” Mutati said. Lusaka Times
Zambia’s Ministry of Information and Media issued a separate statement, saying the postponement was necessary to “ensure full alignment with Zambia’s national values, policy priorities, and broader public interest considerations.”
After attempting to negotiate, RightsCon organisers confirmed the event would “not proceed.” Their statement read: “We do not recommend registered participants travel to Lusaka for RightsCon.”
Elections, Surveillance Laws, and Contested Timing
The cancellation did not happen in a political vacuum. RightsCon was set to open just over three months before Zambia’s general election on 13 August. President Hakainde Hichilema, elected in 2021, seeks reelection amid controversy over a constitutional amendment that expanded parliament — a move critics describe as election engineering. Lusaka Times
Zambia’s digital rights record had drawn scrutiny well before this week. Legal and human rights experts say a pair of cybersecurity laws enacted last year raise significant concerns over government surveillance and the suppression of speech. Bloggers of Zambia is among the organisations that have publicly criticised those laws.
The last-minute announcement drew wide speculation that external forces or foreign interference may have caused the Zambian government to withdraw its endorsement, leaving thousands of attendees facing disrupted travel and visa uncertainty.
The Human Cost Behind the Cancellation
For many who made the journey to Lusaka, RightsCon represents far more than a professional gathering. Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, Executive Director at Tech Global Institute, captured what the cancellation means for communities that depend on the conference most.
“For many, especially those of us in the Global South, RightsCon isn’t just another conference,” she wrote. “It is the penultimate space to sustain our voices, movements, and communities, particularly in an increasingly fragmented world.”
The financial and logistical toll falls hardest on those with the least room to absorb it. “At a time when organisations and human rights defenders are already stretched thin by funding cuts and limited resources, being here reflects a significant tradeoff,” Diya said. “Many have invested scarce funds, secured visas, and spent months planning sessions and meetings to make the journey to Lusaka.”
Her sharpest criticism was directed at what the cancellation signals beyond Zambia. “More troublingly, it sends a signal that Global South governments constantly advocating for more visibility, more voice and more autonomy are unable to provide a trustworthy and reliable platform, and in doing so, are reinforcing the very concentration of power they seek to challenge.”
Diya did not stop at condemnation. She called for a fundamental rethink of how the digital rights movement organises itself. “Our movements need a serious recalibration. We need to unlearn and explore new strategies about building, safely scaling and sustaining critical digital rights work and communities. We need to ask who has privileged access to rooms, whose voices are being censored, and who ultimately makes decisions. Our solidarity needs a re-imagination.”
Global Condemnation
The response from civil society and international bodies was swift.
Paradigm Initiative stated it “condemns, in the strongest terms, the actions of the Government of Zambia that have now led to the cancellation of RightsCon 2026. We are sad that a global event coming to Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time was disrupted under worrying circumstances that touch on Zambia’s own commitments and obligations. We express solidarity with our partners at Access Now and extend the same to thousands of colleagues from all over the world who are either already in Lusaka, are in-flight at this time, or were set to arrive over the next few days.”
Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, was equally direct.
“Requiring disclosure of topics for an ‘alignment with national values’ is a clear violation of the rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression, and a deliberate attack on civic space,” she wrote. “The postponement of the event works as a de facto cancellation given its vast logistical complexity and the proximity to the scheduled dates. This measure is a strategic obstruction of one of the most vital assemblies for the global digital rights community.”
Romero also raised a separate concern running alongside the RightsCon fallout: that UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day events in Zambia were requiring compulsory government accreditation for delegates, sharing private information held by the UN. She called it “a clear breach of the right to privacy. The right to assemble must not be conditioned upon the disclosure of sensitive information or the surveillance of those convening.”
Access Now acknowledged the response from the community: “Over the last 48 hours we have experienced an overwhelming surge of support from civil society, government representatives, sponsors, and our community as a whole. For this, we wholeheartedly thank you. We’ll communicate more information soon.”
What This Means for Digital Rights in Africa
RightsCon 2026 was intended to centre African perspectives on digital rights — a significant milestone, as it would have been the first time the conference came to Sub-Saharan Africa. That context makes the cancellation harder to separate from the broader political climate. A government that demands topic disclosure before permitting an assembly on digital rights sends a signal that reaches well beyond this one event.
Diya named the structural problem directly. “This ‘postponement’ by the Government of Zambia without any real justification sends an alarming signal to the human rights community. It underscores how already scarce civic spaces are shrinking and becoming less secure, how difficult it is to sustain communities and movements, and how years of work can be disrupted at any moment.”
For organisations already navigating geopolitical unpredictability, cancellations like this make it harder to justify holding future global events across the Global South — at precisely the moment when those communities most need a seat at the table.
As Diya put it: “It is perhaps important to remind ourselves that we are not alone and the human rights community stands together to back and build this movement.”
