Access Now is thrilled to announce that the 10th edition of the RightsCon Summit Series will take place entirely online and across every time zone from Monday, June 7 to Friday, June 11, 2021.
In 2011, we hosted the first-ever RightsCon (then the Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference). We met with the intention to create something different: a civil society-led space where all stakeholders – from tech companies to government representatives to human rights defenders – could come together to build a rights-respecting digital future. Since then, RightsCon has rotated between five continents and grown, both in size and in scope, to meet the evolving needs of a movement.
In 2020, despite the loss of our shared physical spaces, we celebrated the largest, most inclusive event in our history. We welcomed 7,681 participants from 157 countries. We held 309 sessions across 10 programmatic tracks in every time zone. We built an online platform that continues to provide access to more than 100 archived sessions. For a full overview, read our Outcomes Report!
Our 10th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the evolving nature of our work, celebrate what our community has achieved, and chart a path forward in a mo
The RightsCon team is excited to launch our Outcomes Report for the ninth iteration of our annual summit series, RightsCon Online, which took place across every time zone from Monday, July 27 to Friday, July 31, 2020.
Our annual Outcomes Report provides insight into the current human rights and technology landscape, showcasing the achievements, learnings, and participation from and by our community that took place during the summit. Explore a few highlights below or read the full report for a detailed look into RightsCon Online 2020.
Since 2011, we have convened the human rights and technology community in key hubs around the world, including Tunis, Toronto, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Manila, and San Francisco. At the end of RightsCon Tunis in 2019, we announced our intention to bring RightsCon to San José, Costa Rica. Instead, in 2020, for the first time in the history of the summit, we embarked on a journey to somewhere entirely different and unexpected – creating a fully online RightsCon experience.
In transitioning from an in-person convening to an online summit, this year’s RightsCon established a critical platform for thousands of experts to connect, coordinate, and advance a shared agenda for 2020 and for the decade ahead. It also allowed us to broaden our reach and increase participation from 2,979 participants at RightsCon Tunis in 2019, to 7,681 in 2020, meaning that RightsCon Online was not only the largest, but the most accessible iteration of our summit to date.
Last June, at the end of RightsCon Tunis, we announced our intention to bring RightsCon to San José, Costa Rica. Instead, in 2020, we embarked on a journey to somewhere entirely different and unexpected – creating a fully online RightsCon experience, from start to finish.
With 300+ sessions and 7,828 participants tuning in from 158 countries, representing every time zone and region of the world, RightsCon Online demonstrates the importance of convening, and embodies the strength, resilience, and solidarity of our global community in a time of crisis.
Together, we raised the bar for the conversations we host and the work we do
The program was a reflection of the state of our human rights at this moment. We brought to the fore critical conversations about elections, protesting, and surveillance in the context of COVID-19. We hosted discussions about racial justice that have, for too long, not been adequately represented at our summit. We continued to challenge narratives that oppress, marginalize, and silence underrepresented voices, integrating perspectives on indigenous rights, disability rights, environmental sustainability, and linguistic diversity across our program. We talked about migration, peacebuilding, and the need to connect in conflict zones. And we ensured that sessions fully reflected our commitment to gender justice and inclusion, with 65 percent of our session organizers identifying as women, nonbinary, or genderqueer, and a slate of discussions focused on feminist theory, LGBTQ rights, and gender and sexuality in the digital age.
Over the past five days, RightsCon Online has started crucial conversations, and our convening is already translating into tangible outcomes:
Six U.N. Special Rapporteurs joined astatement warning of closing digital space amid the COVID-19 pandemic;
There are many achievements to celebrate from this year's historic RightsCon summit, along with many opportunities for us to listen and learn. As the spaces we share adapt and shift online, we know that the way we run RightsCon will change, too. Whether we meet in person, online, or both next year, there are opportunities for us to improve access. Take our survey and tell us about your experience so we can deliver an even better RightsCon when we meet again.
Access Now welcomes a new statement from U.N. Special Rapporteurs warning of increased closing of digital spaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and embraces their commitment to continue to document the intersection of technology within their mandates. The six experts, Clément Voule, E. Tendayi Achiume, Agnes Callamard, David Kaye, Mary Lawlor, and Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin are all actively involved in this year’s RightsCon Online, and issued the joint statement in light of thematic discussions taking center stage at the summit. Highlighting that state actors are continuing to leverage the internet and digital technologies to muzzle dissent and quash online and offline collective action, the independent U.N. experts emphasized that they are “deeply concerned that such patterns of abuse have accelerated under the exigencies of the global pandemic.”
“We are thrilled to have these independent U.N. experts join us for RightsCon Online and use this platform to defend digital civic space. They continue to offer a rich perspective on a variety of issues from racial discrimination, to online attacks against human rights defenders, quelling protest movements through internet shutdowns, and unlawful surveillance,” said Brett Solomon, Executive Director at Access Now. “This timely joint statement truly speaks to the increasing threats posed with the closing of civic space, which have become compounded amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.N. experts rightfully stress the urgency for governments and the tech sector to systematically address this, and other intersecting issues such as systemic violence and institutional racism, worldwide.”
“We will continue to engage with the mandates of the U.N. Special Rapporteurs beyond RightsCon Online,” said Melody Patry, Advocacy Director at Access Now, “and look forwa
This is translated from Highlighting Latin American and the Caribbean regional priorities at RightsCon Online
En un esfuerzo por comprender mejor cómo involucrar a la comunidad de América Latina y el Caribe en la agenda de RightsCon de este año, consultamos a organizaciones socias sobre qué temas, proyectos e iniciativas deberían resaltarse en la cumbre.
Mientras construíamos el programa de 2020, miembros de la comunidad se reunieron en el Foro de Gobernanza de Internet (IGF) 2019 en Berlín, Alemania, y redactaron algunas inquietudes generales para ser incluidas en RightsCon. Presentamos estos problemas más tarde a nuestros Campeones Regionales, un grupo con experticia en derechos humanos y tecnología en América Latina y el Caribe que brindan recomendaciones sobre el desarrollo del programa y aseguran una representación adecuada de la región en RightsCon.
Luego vino la pandemia del COVID-19, y con ella surgieron nuevos desafíos globales en la defensa de los derechos humanos en esta nueva era. Luego del aplazamiento de nuestra reunión en persona, le pedimos a la comunidad apoyo sobre cómo construir RightsCon Online. En base a sus respuestas y la convocatoria de propuestas de este año, el programa RightsCon Online ahora cuenta con más de 250 sesiones y 8 ejes temáticos, con un 12% de las sesiones enfocadas en la región y el 19,3% de los proponentes procedentes del continente.
Reconocemos que no podemos cubrir todos los problemas que queremos este año, sin embargo, nuestro compromiso de crear una participación diversa, inclusiva e intersectorial en nuestro programa
También disponible en español
In an effort to better understand how to engage the Latin American and Caribbean community into this year’s RightsCon agenda, we consulted with partners and organizations about what issues, projects, and initiatives should be centred and showcased in the summit.
As we were building the 2020 program, members of the community gathered at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2019 in Berlin, Germany, and drafted general concerns to be included in RightsCon. We later introduced these issues to our Regional Champions, a group of the leading human rights and technology experts in Latin America and the Caribbean who provide guidance on program development and ensure proper representation from the region in the summit.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and with it new global challenges emerged in the defense for human rights in this new era. After the postponement of our in-person convening, we asked the community for support in shaping how we create RightsCon Online. Based on their responses and this year's call of proposals, the RightsCon Online program now features 250+ sessions and 8+ tracks, with 12% of the sessions with a regional focus and 19.3% with proposers coming from the continent.
We recognize that we can’t cover all the issues we want this year, however, we are still committed to creating a diverse, inclusive and intersectoral participation in our program. We believe that taking local participation to a global platform is key to elevating novel frameworks and integrating different perspectives and worldviews on the work being done in the intersection
RightsCon Online (July 27-31, 2020) is bringing together a community of experts from around the world to tackle the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and human rights. We will host 300 sessions across 10 program tracks, covering everything from public health in the digital age to elections and democracy to environmental and racial justice.
Just like our in-person events, participants are required to register ahead of the summit. This is an important part of our safety and security process that helps us provide a safe and productive environment for everyone to gather. If you’re already registered, head on over to the RightsCon Online platform to start planning your agenda. If you missed the registration deadline, or aren’t able to participate fully throughout the entire week, not to worry. There are still plenty of ways you can connect with fellow members of the RightsCon community, learn from experts in the field, share resources, and take advantage of this moment to move forward our collective agenda for human rights in the digital age.
Here are some ways you can take part in the RightsCon experience:
As RightsCon Online (July 27-31, 2020) quickly approaches, we’re laying out in more detail the core policies, principles, and processes that we’re working within to maintain safe, productive, and inclusive spaces for the summit week.As with every previous summit, RightsCon Online is governed by our Code of Conduct and Participation & Privacy Policy. By registering, participants agree to read through and abide by these policies.
Our approach
We understand that RightsCon Online looks a little different than previous years, and this requires refining our policies and reaffirming our response mechanisms to fit this new environment. Virtual sessions replace in-person meetings, while one-on-one or group chats and discussion forums provide an online alternative to informal coffee chats and hallway conversations. The safety and wellbeing of our community remains our priority, and achieving this in an online conference requires us to err on the side of caution in our response processes. As we navigate this new setting and learn how best to reach our goals within it, we ask for understanding and support from the community. In an in-person setting, our team focuses on providing a safe and secure venue for the RightsCon community to gather. For RightsCon Online, we are taking a similar approach to the conference platform, doing what we can to promote broad participation while also putting certain checks in
Every year we hold the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age. For its ninth edition, RightsCon 2020 will take place entirely online. From Monday, July 27 to Friday, July 31, 2020, we invite you to sign up, log in, and join us. Registration has been extended to close on Tuesday, July 21!
We are bringing together the world’s leading expert technologists, human rights defenders, government representatives, and academics to cover issues ranging from connectivity and internet shutdowns, to protest and participation, peacebuilding, development, and humanitarian response, disinformation and online hate, and much more. We have just launched our program, which includes an exciting number of dynamic, and in-depth sessions on digital rights issues in Middle East and North Africa region:
Data collection and open source investigations: advancing accountability and justice in the Middle East (Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy; Eshhad)
Dissecting the (not so) democratic drama: reflecting on the digital manipulations and political persecutions in the Tunisian 2019 elections (Bloggeurs sans Chaines)
They don’t really care about us: social media platforms and disinformation in the Arab World (Oxford Internet Institute)
Behrouz Boochani: writing No Friend But the Mountains from Manus prison on WhatsApp (ARTICLE 19; Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University)
Can you hear us? Internet shutdown in Iran, what have we learned? (NetFreedom Pioneers: Toosheh/Knapsack For Hope)
Filterwatch: how state policies and private companies undermine digital rights in Iran (Small Media Foundation)
