Advocacy group Access Now says major human rights conference was canceled after Chinese pressure on Zambia

(Corrects in paragraph 4 to show that Whittaker and Finlay were previous attendees of the conference)

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON - Advocacy group Access Now said a major human rights conference was canceled at the last minute following pressure from Chinese officials on the government of Zambia.

Access Now said in a statement that the 2026 edition of RightsCon - a long-running conference devoted to digital rights due to kick off in the Zambian capital of Lusaka on Tuesday - was canceled after Chinese diplomats pressured Zambia's government over the presence of Taiwanese civil society figures due to attend the conference.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Calls rang unanswered at the Zambian Embassy in Washington.

RightsCon has been running for more than a decade and has traditionally featured a mix of media, tech, civil society, and government participants. Previous events have featured Meredith Whittaker, the president of the foundation behind the encrypted messaging app Signal and Lorraine Finlay, a member of the Australian government's human rights commission, according to the conference's website. The statement said thousands of attendees had been expected in Zambia.

The Lusaka gathering was meant to be RightsCon's debut in southern Africa. Organizers said they would not be deterred by what they described as "violations of the fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and association."

"RightsCon may not happen in Zambia, but we will come together again," the statement said in part.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 12:01 PM.