We made the difficult decision to postpone our in-person convening in Costa Rica until 2021 due to the escalating global impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The health and safety of RightsCon participants, staff, partners, and their communities has always been our number one priority and guided our decision-making. Our first blog post on the topic, published March 5, details the steps we took and the information we considered in deciding whether to continue with RightsCon in 2020. Our second blog post, published on March 17, details our decision to postpone our in-person event until 2021.

Yes! Our team is currently exploring alternative ways to connect members of the RightsCon community and host virtual programming for 2020. We will provide more information about these plans in the coming weeks.

In order to build off the work done to date, our next summit will take place in 2021 at the Costa Rica Convention Center in San Jose, Costa Rica. We are currently working with the venue and our partners to identify the dates for the summit. We will communicate these dates with the community as soon as we can.

Any ticket, whether purchased or discounted can be transferred to next year’s event, RightsCon Costa Rica 2021, or you can request a full refund. In order to support the community during this time, refund requests can be made up to 7 days before next year’s event. Once we have firm dates in place for 2021, we will relaunch ticket sales.

The RightsCon team is looking into online options to support some of the programming intended for 2020. Unfortunately, digital convening has its limitations, and we will be unable to reproduce the program in full, as we had envisioned for an in-person summit. This means we cannot move forward with the majority of session proposals as we build out virtual programming.

Please know that we appreciate your time, effort, and contributions to RightsCon. Our team is undergoing internal and external consultations as we work to translate the RightsCon experience online, and we will provide opportunities over the coming weeks for session proposers to engage and offer feedback.

The RightsCon team is looking into online options to support some of the programming intended for 2020. Unfortunately, digital convening has its limitations, and we will be unable to reproduce the program in full, as we had envisioned for an in-person summit. This means the options for speaker applicants are extremely limited and contingent on the needs of sessions selected to host a virtual session.

Our team is undergoing internal and external consultations as we work to translate the RightsCon experience online, and we welcome your advice and input on ways to support the human rights and technology communities during this critical time. Please know that we appreciate your time, effort, and interest in speaking at RightsCon, and we strongly encourage you to reapply as a speaker for 2021, once the application opens.

We encourage everyone to submit new applications for the community village and private meetings for RightsCon Costa Rica 2021, once the applications open. In the meantime, our team is determining alternative ways to engage with the community online and we will communicate opportunities to participate in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you plan to host a virtual meeting in lieu and want to engage the RightsCon community, please get in touch at [email protected].

We thank you for your time and effort in submitting an application for travel support. Unfortunately, we will be unable to carry over applications from 2020 and ask that applicants reapply for RightsCon Costa Rica 2021, once applications open.

Our team is currently exploring new and creative ways in which we can engage and connect virtually in the upcoming months, as we remain committed to fostering and expanding the Young Leaders network. We appreciate your time, effort, and willingness to participate in the Young Leaders Summit. Unfortunately, we will be unable to carry over applications from 2020 and strongly encourage you to submit a new application for next year’s summit, once it opens.

We appreciate your time, effort, and willingness to contribute to RightsCon as a volunteer and we strongly encourage you to submit a new application for RightsCon Costa Rica 2021, once applications open.

Our team will continue to work with the Costa Rican government in the interim period and ahead of RightsCon 2021 on a process to facilitate visa approvals for those that require visas. We encourage everyone to submit a new visa invitation letter request for RightsCon Costa Rica 2021, once applications open.

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