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🚨 𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗧! 🚨 RIGHTSCON 2026 ZAMBIA HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Just days before it was due to begin in Lusaka and online, RightsCon 2026 was called off after Zambian authorities moved to “postpone” the conference, with officials citing the need for alignment with “national values,” policy priorities, and public interest considerations. RightsCon organizers later confirmed that the event would not proceed in Zambia or online and advised registered participants not to travel.
We at Manushya Foundation are angered by this cancellation.
For years, RightsCon has been a vital space for human rights defenders, digital rights advocates, and civil society organisers like us at Manushya to strategise, resist, and build power across borders. What happened here is a reflection of the shrinking space civil society faces when our movements dare to confront surveillance, censorship, repression, and State control.
We stand in full and fierce solidarity with Access Now, the RightsCon team, and the wider community impacted by this cancellation. We honour the labour it takes to hold open spaces like this, year after year, against growing pressures on civil society worldwide.
To defenders in Zambia and everywhere: Let us keep showing up with everything we have. ✊🏾
#WeAreManushyan ♾️Equal Human Beings
