ISLAMABAD – Digital Accountability Collective South Asia (DACSA) expresses deep concern over the cancellation of RightsCon, a critical global gathering that has long served as a vital platform for advancing digital rights, accountability, and collective resistance against growing authoritarianism in digital spaces.
At a time when governments and corporations are increasingly deploying surveillance, censorship, internet shutdowns, AI-driven discrimination, and attacks on freedom of expression, spaces like RightsCon are more necessary than ever. RightsCon has been one of the few truly inclusive forums where activists, journalists, technologists, academics, grassroots organizers, and marginalized communities from the Global Majority can come together to shape a people-centered digital future. Such gatherings create opportunities for solidarity, knowledge-sharing, and coordinated action to challenge digital repression and defend human dignity, democratic participation, privacy, and freedom of expression.
The ongoing global digital crisis is not merely technological; it is a crisis of human values, rights, and justice. In this context, the loss of a convening space like RightsCon weakens collective efforts to build accountable and rights-respecting digital ecosystems. DACSA reaffirms the urgent need for inclusive, accessible, and effective global platforms that center the voices and experiences of the Global Majority.
