We, the Net Rights Coalition (NRC), a network of digital rights actors, and all other signatories listed below, are appalled by the Government of Zambia’s unilateral announcement of the postponement of RightsCon on 29 April 2026, a move that has resulted in the cancellation of the global event with over 5000 participants that was going to be hosted in Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. Access Now, partners, and thousands of stakeholders have incurred huge financial and logistical losses as plans were underway for the event to start in 3 days. Zambia will also record significant economic losses that would have come from thousands of visitors to a nation that prides itself as a tourist destination, anchored on the popular Zambia KuChalo (Zambia to the World) slogan. This will have a huge impact on Zambian small businesses that were engaged to provide services that will now be cancelled.
The need for international consensus-building remains critical, and the government of Zambia missed an opportunity to demonstrate a strong commitment to preserving the multistakeholder model, a key feature of global digital governance, across its country’s digital rights engagements. Rather, the government cited the need for comprehensive disclosures to align with “national values, policy priorities, and broader public-interest considerations”, but did not disclose them to the public to ease understanding of such a drastic action.
The position comes after the Ministry of Technology and Science, on 3 March 2026, officially announced that they were the primary Government partner for RightsCon 2026, with the event meant to be held in Lusaka, Zambia and online from 5 to 8 May 2026. This government statement assured the global community that the event would proceed with the host government’s appropriate support. The backtracking, at the last minute, on this commitment raises questions about trust and commitment to civil society engagement and international agreements, to which Zambia has in the past demonstrated a strong pledge. This action, when travel itineraries are set, accommodation is booked, and venue costs are incurred, constitutes a setback to global human and digital rights processes and derails the participation of diverse stakeholders, including civil society, government, investors, and the private sector engaged in these conversations.
The suspended event agenda presents areas of discourse on key digital economy topics, promotes digital rights and embeds multistakeholderism, as outlined in the Global Digital Compact (GDC), adopted in 2024, to which Zambia contributed as Co-Chair, having been appointed on 10 October 2023 by the President of the General Assembly, together with Sweden, to lead the intergovernmental process on the Global Digital Compact.
RightsCon in Lusaka would have been an incredible opportunity for local and global exchange, and to create new initiatives to realise human rights in the digital age. A clear channel of resolving any outstanding issues with the event convenor to save the multistakeholder approach would have been a fair course of action, aligned with international human rights standards to which Zambia subscribes as a State party, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
We condemn the government’s actions that led to the cancellation of RightsCon in Zambia. This raises concerns about closing civic space and fostering a culture of self-censorship ahead of the August 2026 elections, and is a major setback for Zambia’s digital rights trajectory regionally and globally, signalling a departure from the gains it has secured in leading global processes.
/ENDS/
Signed:
- @digitallytante
- ‘Gbenga Sesan
- Accountability Lab Nigeria
- ActionAid Denmark (AADK)
- Afghanistan Democracy and Development Organization (ADDO)
- African Internet Rights Alliance
- Afrika Youth Movement
- AfroLeadership
- Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia
- Amélie Banzet, Fondation Inria
- Amnesty International
- Anja Kovacs, Researcher
- Anriette Esterhuysen (Past Chair, UN IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group and Senior Advisor Internet Governance, APC.org)
- ARC – Artists at Risk Connection
- Arsène Tungali, Digital Rights Activist
- ARTICLE 19
- Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
- Atuhairwe Benardine
- Avocats Sans Frontières memiliki France ( Lawyers Without Borders France)
- Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE)
- BlueLink Foundation – Bulgaria
- Brandi Geurkink, Coalition for Independent Technology Research
- Cameroon Open Internet
- Camer Today (CT)
- CCAOI
- Center for Democracy & Technology
- Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR-Nepal)
- Center for Online Safety and Liberty (COSL)
- Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH)
- Centre for Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Governance in Africa (CAIEGA)
- Centre for Information Technology Awareness and Development (CITAD)
- Chapter One Foundation – Zambia
- Charles Donaldson Ogira -Uganda
- Chithira Vijayakumar, Strategist and Researcher
- Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA)
- Community Podium
- COMPUTECH INSTITUTE
- Conexión Segura y Libre (CSL)
- ctrl+alt+reclaim
- Data & Society
- Data Cívica (México)
- Datysoc (Uruguay)
- Debarati Das (Coalition for Independent Technology Research)
- Defenders Coalition Kenya
- Democracy Without Borders
- Derechos Digitales
- Digicivic Initiative
- Digihub Africa (South Africa)
- Digital Africa Research and Safety Lab (DigiAfricaLab)
- Digital Constitutionalism Network
- Digital Defenders Partnership
- Digitale Gesellschaft (Germany)
- Digital Initiative for Innovation and Development ( DIID)
- Digital Reflex (Ethiopia)
- Digital Rights Alliance Africa (DRAA)
- Digital Rights Kashmir
- Digital Rights Nepal (DRN)
- Digital Shelter
- Doublethink Lab
- Dr. Eirliani Abdul Rahman (Germany)
- Eastern Africa Editors Society (EAES) `
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
- Epicenter.works
- eQualitie.org
- Eurasian Digital Foundation
- European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL)
- evaluatech – Evaluate Tech for Public Safety
- Exile Hub
- Fight for the Future
- Fojo Media Institute
- FORUMVERT
- Foxglove
- Fundación InternetBolivia.org
- Fundación Karisma
- Fundación Multitudes
- Geochicas
- GLAAD
- Glenn Sorrentino, Executive Director, Hush Line
- Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP)
- Global Focus – Denmark
- Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
- GoodBot Society
- Guardian Project
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
- Henri Verdier, Fondation Inria
- Het Actiefonds – Netherlands
- Hiperderecho (Peru)
- Hiperderecho – Perú
- Human Constanta
- Human Rights Journalists Network Nigeria
- Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)
- Human Rights Myanmar
- Human Rights Online Philippines (HRonlinePH)
- IFEX
- I Freedom Uganda Network in
- Impact Foundation For Youths Development
- Index on Censorship
- Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA)
- Institut pour la Gouvernance et Éducation Electorale
- International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- International Media Support
- Internet Governance Project, Atlanta Ga USA
- Internet Protection Society (ex-Russia)
- Internet Sans Frontières (Internet Without Borders)
- Internews Europe
- Irene Mwendwa
- Jokkolabs Banjul
- Jonction
- Kandoo
- Karamoja Rights Advocates Network
- Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet)
- Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya)
- KONDISI (Indonesia)
- Koneta Hub -South Sudan
- LCK Freedom Foundation – Zambia
- Legal Aid Center for the Press (Indonesia)
- Lim Nguen Foundation- South Sudan
- Malka Older, Global Voices
- Masaar Foundation (Egypt)
- Media Diversity Institute – Armenia (CyberHUB-AM)
- Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)
- Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
- Media Rights Agenda (MRA)
- Media Voice – Media and Communication Educational and Research Center
- Meedan
- Miaan Group
- Mnemonic
- MOLI
- Morisola Alaba-Akinlabi
- Moxii Africa (formerly Media Monitoring africa)
- Myanmar Internet Project (MIP)
- My Data Rights (Africa)
- NewsBridge Africa
- NMT Media Foundation (formerly Namibia Media Trust)
- Observatorio Latinoamericano de Centros de Datos
- OpenArchive
- Open Foundation West Africa
- Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI)
- Open Secrets (South Africa)
- Open Terms Archive
- Oxfam
- Paradigm Initiative (PIN)
- PEN America
- People vs Big Tech
- PIKAT Demokrasi (Indonesia)
- Point of View
- Public Virtue Research Institute (Indonesia)
- PurpleCode Collective (Indonesia)
- Ranking Digital Rights
- Raymond Amumpaire
- Relance Kataliko (DYI)
- RKS Global
- Safe Haven Foundation(SHF)
- Sani Suleiman Sani
- Sflc.in India
- Shanley Clemot McLaren, Digital Rights & Feminist Activist
- Shannon Raj Singh
- SHARE Foundation
- Skyline International for Human Rights (SIHR)
- South East Asia Collaborative Policy Network (SEA CPN)
- Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFEnet)
- Spring Revolution Security (SRS) Myanmar
- Stop Online Harm (SOH)
- Superbloom Design
- Sursiendo
- Targeted Rights Initiative
- Tech Global Institute
- Techsocietal
- Tech Workers Coalition
- TEDIC – Paraguay
- The African Editors Forum (TAEF)
- The Future of Free Speech
- The Red Flag (TRF), Myanmar
- The Tor Project
- Thokozani Makuyana, Coalition for Independent Technology Research
- Thraets Foundation
- Tierra Común Network
- Tifa Foundation (Indonesia)
- UNESCO Youth Committee On Media And Information Literacy (MIL Youth)
- Unwanted Witness
- Validus Circle Mw (VC)
- Videre est Credere
- Vita-Activa.org
- Webfala Digital Skills for all Initiative
- West African Digital Rights Defenders Coalition
- WHAT TO FIX
- WITNESS
- WITNESS
- Women Beyond Walls
- Women Empower and Mentor All CBO(WEmpower)
- Women in AI Ethics (WAIE+)
- Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
- World Association for Christian Communication (WACC)
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
- YODET
- Youth and Society (YAS) – Malawi
- Dr Shivangi Narayan – Independent Researcher/Ex Sociology Asst Professor