RightsCon, an annual international conference on human rights and technology previously scheduled to take place in Zambia between 5-8 May, was cancelled a few days before it is scheduled to open following alleged pressure from Chinese diplomats about participants from Taiwan.

Access Now, the conference’s host organisation, announced on 29 April that the conference would not proceed onsite and online, and that it did not recommend that participants travel to Zambia.

In a statement issued on 1 May, Access Now said that it believed “foreign interference” was the reason the conference was cancelled. Access Now noted that it had been coordinating closely with Zambia’s government officials, signing a public MOU with the Ministry of Technology and Science (MoTS), and that it had “established working relationships” with several other government departments and was regularly meeting with high-ranking officials. During the process, according to Access Now, officials were briefed on the scope of the conference, the programme, and the diversity of participants. No concerns about applicants were raised.

On 27 April, a day after a government press release was issued endorsing RightsCon, MoTS contacted Access Now, telling the organisers that Chinese diplomats were putting pressure on the Zambian government because participants from Taiwanese civil society groups were planning to join the conference in person. Shortly after, the organisers received reports that immigration officers were telling participants that the conference had been cancelled.

These developments took place a day before a public holiday in Zambia, and despite repeated attempts, Access Now was unable to reach its government contacts. On 28 April, it received a “cryptic call” from a senior MoTS official, who said that he “had been asked to share that RightsCon would be cancelled or postponed” but did not say where the decision was coming from. Once pressed for clarification, the official requested the programme and participant list. Access Now said it supplied publicly-available information which it had shared in previous meetings with the officials, but did not receive further response.

That night, local state-owned media reported that the government had “postponed” RightsCon. This was followed by a statement from the Ministry of Information and Media (MIM) reinforcing the postponement. Access Now was not given a formal notice and no communication effort was made before these statements were released. The organisers attempted to schedule a meeting with MoTS representatives. One was initially scheduled for the morning of 29 April, but was delayed and never rescheduled.

The first official communication from the MoTS came on 29 April after the MIM released its statement. In a letter sent over WhatsApp, the Ministry said that postponement was “necessitated by the need for comprehensive disclosure of critical information relating to key thematic issues proposed for discussion,” which would be “essential to ensure full alignment with Zambia’s national values and broader public interest considerations.”

The MoTS did not give concrete reasons as to why the postponement was announced. Access Now said it learned informally from multiple sources that, for the event to proceed, the organisers would need to moderate specific topics and exclude communities, including Taiwanese participants, from the event both online and offline.

“We see this unilateral decision, and the way it was taken, as evidence of the far reach of transnational repression targeting civil society, effectively shrinking the spaces in which we operate,” said Access Now.

“At a time when this sector is already under immense financial and political strain, what we and our community forcefully experienced is unprecedented and existential.”

Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, said in a statement on 4 May that the last-minute postponement of such a large conference is “a deliberate obstruction of one of the most vital assemblies for the global digital rights community, that was critical to advancing Human Rights in the digital age.”

“By demanding “comprehensive disclosure of critical information” to ensure alignment with “national values and policy priorities,” the Zambian authorities have committed a clear violation of the rights to freedom of assembly, association, and expression. This grants the state overbroad discretion to stifle dissent and creates a pervasive chilling effect, signalling that collective action is a conditional privilege rather than an inherent right,” Romero said.

By blocking the conference, Romero said, Zambia disrupted “the formation of global networks and silences the collective voice of thousands of human rights defenders, academics, and civil society organisations who rely on these spaces to organise.”

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) issued a statement yesterday (5 May) saying that it is “deeply concerned” by the cancellation of RightsCon.

Such interference is a clear example of transnational repression and raises serious concerns over security and civil society access for future gatherings of human rights defenders. This kind of transnational repression targets the very spaces where civil society is meant to convene.

"FORUM-ASIA is in solidarity with Access Now. We strongly condemn the decision to prevent participants from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.