Takeaways from the Young Leaders Summit at RightsCon 2025
April 21, 2025 • Report • 3 min read
Elan Schwartz
Operations & Partnerships Manager
Mina Zahine
Event Support Contractor
RightsCon 2025 in Taipei hosted the fifth edition of the Young Leaders Summit, a full-day satellite event bringing together young people passionate about devising solutions for issues at the intersection of technology and human rights. This year, we welcomed nearly 70 young leaders — ages 18 to 30 — from over 30 countries at the Summit.
In partnership with Better Taiwan Together, an organization dedicated to defending democracy and human rights in Taiwan, RightsCon provided a platform for young leaders to share insights and strategies for navigating the complex issues at the forefront of the digital age. The summit highlighted critical themes surrounding youth agency and activism in digital spaces, the weaponization of information, such as disinformation campaigns, AI-driven narrative manipulation, the rise of authoritarianism, and strategies for strengthening digital rights advocacy through multi-stakeholder collaboration, robust legal frameworks, and youth-centred solutions to reducing online harms.
How Digital Technology Shapes Democratic Participation
The Summit began with a keynote speech by Ching Yang, Digital Intelligence Team Analyst Lead at Doublethink Lab, an organization investigating the impact of Foreign Information Manipulation and interference (FIMI) and Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) on democracies. Ching reflected on Taiwan’s journey towards democratization during his lifetime and the role of the Internet and technology in shaping this process. Looking back at the local human rights defenders’ progress gave young leaders perspective on what it took for Taiwan to build one of the freest online environments in Asia.
Youth Voices in Adversity: Participant spotlight
After the keynote, 12 selected participants took the stage and presented their work or research. Each presenter sat at a banquet table, allowing participants to choose sessions based on their interests. One of the sessions that garnered a lot of interest was Shataakshi Verma’s Art of Freedom project, originally piloted in Afghanistan and now expanding to Myanmar. Founded by Afghan and Indian women artists, the project uses visual art, zine-making, and theater to help young women and other marginalized genders to reclaim ownership of their narratives.
Workshop: Designing Action Plans
In the afternoon, six workshops were hosted in parallel. Included in this block, Siti Rochmah Aga Desyana led a workshop on the dynamic relationship between technology and democratic transitions. Looking back at 2024, deemed a super-election year, the session explored the significant democratic shifts worldwide, from the AI-driven elections in Indonesia to the Gen-Z Revolution in Bangladesh. Participants were asked to reflect and debate how technology influences and shapes crucial political transition moments.
Breaking Barriers: Youth Participation in Institutions
The Summit closed with a discussion led by three Internet Society (ISOC) Youth Ambassadors on the principles of an open, accessible, trustworthy, and secure internet. Their session sparked lively discussions on the importance of community-led efforts to expand internet access, the threats of undersea cable disruptions, the need to hold Big Tech accountable, and more.
Looking forward
One of the goals behind the Young Leaders Summit was to build a resilient network of young change-makers who could continue to collaborate and engage long after the summit. It was inspiring to see this unfold in real time throughout the day as participants not only shared their enthusiasm for each other’s work but also recognized the shared challenges they faced. By exchanging local perspectives, amplifying youth-led initiatives and centering youth voices, the summit provides a platform for young leaders to co-create a safer, more equitable, and resilient digital future.
Finally, we would like to thank our partners Better Taiwan Together and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom for supporting the Young Leaders Summit in Taipei. We’re excited to see what’s next for the RightsCon 2025 Young Leaders and look forward to following their progress and welcoming new voices in 2026!
