The Zambian authorities’s resolution to postpone RightsCon 2026, successfully canceling the summit, raises considerations concerning the authorities’ dedication to free expression and meeting and about attainable Chinese language authorities interference, Human Rights Watch mentioned right this moment. The 14th version of RightsCon was scheduled to be held in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, from Might 5 to eight, 2026.
In an April 29 assertion, the Zambian authorities mentioned that the postponement was “necessitated by the necessity for complete disclosure […] regarding key thematic points proposed for dialogue through the Summit.” The know-how and science minister had earlier mentioned that the postponement was to permit for “pending administrative and safety clearances” of some audio system. Consequently, the RightsCon organizers, Entry Now, introduced on April 29 that “we don’t suggest registered members journey to Lusaka for RightsCon.”
“The Zambia authorities’s flimsy causes for suspending RightsCon recommend that the federal government wished to regulate the summit’s human rights agenda,” mentioned Idriss Ali Nassah, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities ought to totally clarify the last-minute cancellation, which is a critical loss for the promotion of human rights.”
Civil society teams have criticized the motion. A assertion by the Internet Rights Coalition and greater than 130 digital rights stakeholders mentioned that the postponement and efficient cancellation of the occasion raises considerations about closing the civic house in Zambia.
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RightsCon is a number one summit on human rights and know-how, the place discussions middle on constructing methods towards a extra free, open, and linked digital world. Human Rights Watch workers members had been planning to talk at a number of classes, together with on defending core web features in conditions of battle, the export of surveillance know-how, company accountability, and the ethics of utilizing know-how in human rights analysis.
“By shutting down RightsCon, the Zambian authorities is shutting down discussions and alternatives to strategize and join on a few of the most vital human rights problems with our time,” mentioned Deborah Brown, know-how and rights deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s a horrible blow to the digital rights motion in Zambia and globally.”
In 2023, over 300 members, predominantly from the World South, who utilized for visa-on-arrival, had been denied entry and excluded from collaborating within the RightsCon occasion in Costa Rica. In 2024, the United Nations Web Governance Discussion board was hosted by Saudi Arabia, which discouraged significant civil society participation as a consequence of fears of surveillance, harassment, and reprisals, and resulted in censorship of human rights discussions.
A number one Zambian tutorial, Sishuwa Sishuwa, instructed Human Rights Watch that Zambian authorities might have been fearful that delegates to the summit, principally human rights activists, “would have put the nation below scrutiny” for its human rights document. He mentioned that “Zambia has seen extreme restrictions on the rights to peaceable meeting, free speech, and freedom of affiliation, the arrests of presidency critics and political opponents on a wide range of costs similar to felony libel, sedition, illegal meeting, and the broadly expanded legal guidelines on hate speech. These themes would have been mentioned on the summit, weeks earlier than the beginning of the official marketing campaign for the August common election.”
In April 2025, the Zambian Parliament enacted the Cyber Safety Act and the Cyber Crimes Act. Zambian civil society organizations contended that some provisions of the legal guidelines didn’t adhere to worldwide human rights requirements and had been a risk to the ideas of democracy, transparency, accountability, and rights. The 2 legal guidelines have been used to curtail freedom of expression on-line and to arrest political opponents.
The Legislation Affiliation of Zambia petitioned the Excessive Courtroom to declare provisions of the Cyber Crimes Act unconstitutional. The matter is pending in courtroom.
On March 3, the Ministry of Know-how and Science had welcomed the internet hosting of RightsCon 2026 when it met with the organizers and emphasised that the summit was in step with Zambia’s nationwide improvement agenda. It additionally reaffirmed the Zambian authorities’s dedication to collaborate with the organizers to make sure the profitable internet hosting of the summit. Based on some anticipated members, the ministry had issued them official letters in February to help granting them visas to attend the convention.
A civil society activist concerned within the RightsCon organizing committee in Lusaka instructed Human Rights Watch that the postponement got here after the Chinese language authorities had expressed displeasure to Zambian authorities about invited members from Taiwan. A Zambian media outlet equally reported that Zambian authorities had been uncomfortable with the participation of “Taiwanese delegates who would probably converse in opposition to China at a venue donated by the Chinese language authorities.”
The Mulungushi Convention Middle, which was to host the summit, was refurbished in 2020 with funding from the Chinese language authorities at a reported value of US$60 million. Zambian authorities on the time described the help as a “present from […] China” with “no strings connected.” Human Rights Watch couldn’t independently confirm that China had a job within the authorities’s resolution. Human Rights Watch requested remark from the Zambian authorities and the Chinese language Embassy in Lusaka however didn’t obtain an instantaneous response.
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China is a significant investor in Zambia, notably within the mining sector, and Zambia can also be a part of China’s Belt and Highway Initiative. Human Rights Watch has lengthy documented abusive well being, security, and labor situations related to Chinese language mining pursuits, a few of which pose hurt to residents. Regardless of repeated public considerations and requires accountability, the Zambian authorities has for years proven little willingness to successfully regulate these operations.
The cancellation of RightsCon underscores the necessity for such occasions to be hosted in international locations the place the federal government overtly embraces debate on human rights and helps elementary freedoms, Human Rights Watch mentioned.
“The human rights atmosphere in Zambia has develop into more and more hostile to perceived dissent, criticism, and political opposition to the federal government forward of the 2026 elections,” Nassah mentioned. “Zambian authorities ought to take all needed steps to make sure that it permits for the free train of the rights to freedom of expression, affiliation, and meeting and permits for civil society to satisfy in an atmosphere free of presidency interference.”
