Each year, RightsCon convenes business leaders, policy makers, general counsels, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists, and human rights advocates from around the world to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and technology.  In engaging fireside chats, hands-on workshops, strategic roundtables, private meetings, and a lively exhibition space, RightsCon is where a global movement comes together to build strategies and drive forward change toward a more free, open, and connected digital world.

Over the past 12 years, RightsCon has rotated to key hubs around the world, including San José, Tunis, Toronto, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, Manila, and San Francisco, and grown, both in size and in scope to meet the evolving needs of a movement. 

For its 13th edition, we’re excited to host RightsCon in South Korea and online in February 2025. With the rapid acceleration of digital transformation in the Asia Pacific region and growth in its position as a global hub for innovation, alongside a vibrant civil society actively engaged in safeguarding civic space, we look forward to bringing RightsCon back to the region after 10 years, and to South Korea in particular.

Key moments

Regulating online platforms

The Manila Principles, a civil society initiative established at RightsCon Manila (2015), set out guidelines on internet intermediary liability. Since then, the push for platform accountability has led to deeper partnerships between company decision-makers, such as Facebook’s Strategic Response team, and activists in our summit space.

Key moments

Responding to shutdowns

The #KeepItOn coalition, a network of more than 220 organizations from 99 countries, was formed at RightsCon Silicon Valley (2016). The summit also marked the first international consensus on the definition of an internet shutdown.

Key moments

Healthcare on the internet

With internet pharmacies and telemedicine on the rise, the Prescription Justice Institute developed the Brussels Principles to ensure safety and quality in the sale of medical products online. Named for RightsCon Brussels (2017), the principles continue to inform approaches to digital health, including responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key moments

Human rights principles in AI

At RightsCon Toronto (2018), Access Now and Amnesty International launched a landmark declaration on the right to equality and nondiscrimination in machine learning. The Toronto Declaration addresses the risk of human rights harms associated with artificial intelligence technology.

Key moments

Combating hate speech

Equality Labs released a report at RightsCon Tunis (2019) detailing the failures of Facebook India’s content moderation policies to protect caste, religious, gender, and queer minorities from hate speech. The report has been cited widely, most recently in an open letter that prompted the resignation of policy chief Ankhi Das.

Key moments

Digital ID

Created in a closed-door Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Tunis (2019), the #WhyID coalition asks key decision-makers to consider the human impact of digital identity programs. Signatories include Audrey Tang, (Digital Minister, Taiwan), and Charles Mok (Legislative Councillor on IT, Hong Kong).

Key moments

Ban Biometric Surveillance

During RightsCon Online 2021, 25 new civil society organizations, and over 500 individuals, joined the #BanBS global coalition, a powerful new network working together to ban biometric surveillance. The coalition had evolved from a Solve My Problem session at RightsCon Online 2020.

Key moments

Developing a technologist code of ethics

United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power and New America Foundation CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter launched an initiative at RightsCon Online 2022 to develop a technologist code of ethics, in an effort by civil society and technologists to build a rights-respecting digital future.

Key moments

Safeguarding from harmful technologies

UN experts present at RightsCon Costa Rica (2023) issued a joint statement calling for greater transparency, oversight, and regulation to address the negative impacts of new and emerging digital technologies.

Our History

2023

RightsCon
Costa Rica

8,332 participants
638 sessions
169 countries

2022

RightsCon
2022

9,300+ participants
560+ sessions
162 countries

2021

RightsCon
10th Anniversary

7,600+ participants
300+ sessions
158 countries

2020

RightsCon
Online

7,600+ participants
300+ sessions
158 countries

2019

RightsCon
Tunis

2,750+ participants
450+ sessions
700+ organizations
122 countries

2018

RightsCon
Toronto

2,500 participants
700+ organizations
118 countries

2017

RightsCon
Brussels

1,500+ participants
700+ organizations
105 countries

2016

RightsCon
Silicon Valley

1100+ participants
500+ organizations
84 countries

2015

RightsCon
Manila

650+ participants
40 countries
300+ institutions

2014

RightsCon
Silicon Valley

700+ participants
65 countries
365 institutions.

2012

RightsCon
Rio de Janeiro

400+ participants

2011

RightsCon
Silicon Valley

400+ participants

Group of people attending RightsCon at a roundtable.

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