Zambia cancels world's largest human rights and tech summit days before start

Source: The Guardian

Zambia cancels world’s largest human rights and tech summit days before start

Government blocks RightsCon 2026 conference saying it did not ‘align with national values’

Isabel Choat
Sat 2 May 2026 12.00 BST
Last modified on Sat 2 May 2026 12.02 BST

The world’s largest conference on human rights and technology has been cancelled just days before it was due to start after the Zambian government told organisers it did not align with “national values”.

Zambia’s government had originally welcomed the RightsCon 2026 summit on “human rights in the digital age”, due to be held in the capital, Lusaka, on 5-8 May, but Thabo Kawana, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Information & Media, said last week that the conference would not go ahead to allow time to ensure the gathering “aligns with Zambia’s national values, policy priorities, and broader public interest considerations”.

More than 2,600 activists, technologists, academics and policymakers were expected to begin arriving in Lusaka over the weekend. The event was to address issues of human rights in the digital age, including online hate, internet shutdowns, AI, surveillance, the militarisation of tech and disinformation at a time when democratic, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights are under intense assault.

Rights campaigners have called the decision a blatant act of censorship and part of a broader pattern of suppression of legitimate debate.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/02/zambia-cancels-rightscon-summit-largest-human-rights-technology-conference