RightsCon canceled in Zambia after China pressure over Taiwanese activists

Zambia’s decision to stop RightsCon in Lusaka has become a sharp test of how far Chinese political pressure can travel, with organizers saying the summit was derailed after Beijing objected to Taiwanese civil society participants. Access Now said RightsCon 2026 would not go forward in Zambia or online after the government shifted from approval to a last-minute halt.

The conference had been scheduled for May 5 to 8 in Lusaka and was expected to draw more than 2,600 in-person participants and 1,100 online attendees from over 150 countries and 750 institutions. Access Now said it had first visited Zambia in 2024, returned for two additional site visits, and came back to Lusaka on April 27, when it received an urgent call from Zambia’s Ministry of Technology and Science about Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participants.

Zambian officials initially framed the move as a postponement tied to “pending administrative and security clearances.” They also said they needed “comprehensive disclosure” of the summit’s themes to ensure alignment with “national values, policy priorities and broader public interest considerations.” Access Now said it had worked with the government under a formal memorandum of understanding involving the Ministry of Technology and Science, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Information and Media, and the Department of Immigration. The group also said a government press release had endorsed RightsCon on April 26, one day before the ministry’s urgent call.

Access Now said it believed “foreign interference” was behind the collapse of the summit. Human Rights Watch said the postponement effectively canceled the event and raised concerns about free expression and assembly, while the Net Rights Coalition and 132 other digital rights stakeholders said the abrupt move canceled a global gathering that would have been hosted in Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time. RightsCon’s 2025 event in Taipei and online had brought together business leaders, policy makers, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists and human rights advocates, and the conference had previously moved through San José, Tunis, Toronto, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Manila and San Francisco.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it called Beijing’s transnational repression, and Taiwan’s digital affairs minister said the cancellation showed China’s discomfort with the values of freedom, democracy and rule of law that Taiwan and RightsCon represent. The dispute lands in Zambia against a backdrop of deep economic dependence on China, which is the country’s largest official creditor at about $5.7 billion and holds major stakes in copper interests including an 80% share of the Luanshya Copper Mine.