Ranking Digital Rights stands in solidarity with digital rights defenders affected by the cancellation of RightsCon 2026, which was scheduled to be hosted in Lusaka, Zambia. We unequivocally condemn the Zambian government’s unilateral decision to “postpone” the event at the eleventh hour. This move, which amounted to a cancellation, is an affront to civil society that stifles the human rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and privacy.
We are confronting an unprecedented situation. Pulling the plug on the world’s largest digital rights conference mere days before its opening is a patent act of censorship and an attack on the civic space. The stated justification, that RightsCon’s thematic issues must align with “national values, policy priorities and broader public interest considerations,” echoes the vague language we have seen weaponized countless times to legitimize sweeping internet restrictions.
Large-scale disruptions of this sort cause immense damage whose ripple effects are impossible to control. Thousands of advocates, groups, and communities already battling historic resource constraints have been left stranded. Organizers of large gatherings will be forced to rethink their plans and seek hosts who will neither selectively censor their programs nor quash their events entirely.
The 2026 edition of RightsCon was to be the first one held in Sub-Saharan Africa. It would have provided a crucial space for underrepresented communities to shine a spotlight on their work and needs, and to nurture connections with groups from all over the world. These communities are often stymied by funding constraints or discriminatory visa requirements that lock them out of international gatherings. Abandoning them cuts them off further. We call on other governments to demonstrate moral leadership and provide them with the platforms they were denied.
The digital rights community has repeatedly shown its resilience and strength in the face of adversity. We are heartened by the outpouring of support and confident in the community that has rallied around RightsCon. We were proud to join more than 130 others earlier today in endorsing a statement led by the Net Rights Coalition. Many more forms of collective action will certainly follow.
Access Now, the organizers, and many local digital rights groups worked tirelessly to build the watershed event that RightsCon would have been. The impacts of the cancellation are unevenly distributed, but the collective experience of being silenced by powerful actors is a catalyst for solidarity. We pledge to help those affected find new spaces to share their causes and stories.
We will join the many rebuilding efforts and decentralized organizing that such crackdowns always galvanize. We will work to direct that support towards digital rights advocates in Zambia and the surrounding nations who will disproportionately feel the impact of the government’s decision.
The suppression of RightsCon was a clear attempt to muzzle the digital rights movement. Instead, it has rekindled the passion and determination with which we fight for human rights.
We are not cowed. We stand firmly against efforts to intimidate our community into silence. For every room in Lusaka that will now remain empty, we will join forces and pool resources to open multiple new spaces where people can speak safely.
