The journey to next year's RightsCon (February 2025) officially kicks off today with the launch of the Call for Proposals! Do you have a session idea at the intersection of human rights and technology? Submit a proposal now until June 7, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Organizing a session at RightsCon offers a platform to showcase your work on a global stage, build coalitions and strategies, learn from fellow thought leaders, and shape policy agendas. You will be joining a network of business leaders, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists, and human rights activists – the RightsCon community – who mee
We’re under one year out from RightsCon 2025 (February 2025) and while our planning is well underway, we’re sharing a preview of our event timeline – from the launch of the Call for Proposals to travel support, registration and, more – so you can start getting ready to join us.
You can expect our announcement on the exact dates and venue of RightsCon 2025 by early May!
While our timeline for RightsCon 2025 shifted due to our transition from hosting annually in June to hosting in February, it’s also been informed by extensive research and consultation with our community and partners. Our goal was to build an event timeline that offers ample time and opportunity for participants to plan out their engagement and travel. A few key changes in line with this goal include:
Notifying session proposers of the status of their proposal 6 months before the event (previously 3 months);
Notifying travel support applicants of the status of their funding 5 months before the event (previously 2 months);
Sharing information about visas and launching our visa support process 8 months before the event (previously 4 months).
We are excited to share the last installment of report backs from our community consultation calls! (Read more about our report backs on community support, the RightsCon program, mitigating barriers to travel, and participant experience.)
This report provides a summary of discussions focused on community input into location selection for RightsCon 2026. We are deeply grateful to everyone who participated, and shared their expertise and thoughtful feedback.
Welcome to the fourth installment of report-backs from our community consultation calls! This report provides a summary of discussions centered around a crucial element of our summit: the participant experience. We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated, shared their experiences, expertise, and thoughtful feedback.
Purpose of the calls
On November 14 and 16, 2023, we hosted two consultation calls to reflect on and improve the RightsCon experience for both online and in-person participants. We welcomed a diverse mix of RightsCon newcomers and veterans during the calls, and invited them to share their participation highlights, challenges faced, and suggestions to enhance their experience.
Insights from the community
The feedback we received was both humbling and motivating. There was an overwhelming sentiment that RightsCon is a community-led event, acting as the connective tissue between diverse stakeholders, and a place where one can meet and learn f
We are excited to share the third installment of report backs from our community consultation calls! (Read more about our report backs on community support and the RightsCon program) This report provides a summary of discussions focused on mitigating barriers to travel to RightsCon. We are deeply grateful to members of the RightsCon community who generously shared their experiences and insights to inform our planning for RightsCon South Korea.
Purpose of the calls
In the open letter we published in August 2023, we reflected on our responsibility as event organizers to anticipate and work to mitigate the barri
We’re back to share the second installment of report backs from our community consultation calls! This report provides a summary of the discussions focused on the Call for Proposals, the program timeline, session modes, structure, and size. A huge thank you to the members of our community who took time out of their busy schedules to engage with us on our mission to build a better RightsCon.
Purpose of the calls
Between October 17 and November 9, we hosted a series of six consultation calls with session organizers. We collectively assessed elements of the RightsCon program design, such as the Call for Proposals timeline, decision-making procedures, program structure and size, and the execution of session formats. The calls were organized based on session modes (hybrid, online, and i
Today we are excited to share the first in a series of upcoming reports from our community consultation calls, as part of our commitment to increasing transparency and incorporating community input into the redesign of RightsCon’s core elements. This initial report provides a summary of the discussions focused on community support. We are grateful to the members of the community who took time out of their day to join the calls and share their insights with us.
Purpose of the calls
On October 24 and 25, we hosted two community consultation calls with the goal of evaluating our current community support model, and gathering valuable feedback on how to refine our support mechanisms to better meet the needs of our growing community.
From June 5-8, 2023, we hosted the 12th iteration of RightsCon in San José, Costa Rica, where over 8,300 participants joined us for more than 600 sessions in-person and online. RightsCon Costa Rica was our first hybrid event and a much anticipated return in-person after three years of online-only convening.
While we would usually follow RightsCon by reporting on the outcomes of our time together and launching our save-the-date for next year, our team and Access Now as a whole have instead taken a moment to pause and reflect.
We’re writing to you to explain the challenges and exclusion some participants faced, to apologize and take accountability for our role, and to share some thoughts on the road ahead for RightsCon.
What happened and how it impacted the RightsCon community
We believe it is important for all of us to understand the systemic barriers and harms that participants can
Welcome to RightsCon Costa Rica! With 600+ sessions, 19 program tracks, and 6 intersecting themes, sparking conversation and actions across issues ranging from emerging technologies, to indigenous rights, to freedom of the media. There’s plenty for you to discover and share your expertise on with the thousands of digital rights experts in our spaces.
Registration for our summit is closed, but even if you are not one of the 8,100+ participants from 174 countries (126 in-person and 160 online) present at this year’s gathering, you can still follow key conversations that will become available for you to review and replay each day, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Fireside Chats, and In Conversation sessions on the Access Now YouTube channel.
In particular, we want to take a moment to celebrate the representation of Latin American and Caribbean communities at this year’s summit, our first in the region. With over 1,800 participants from the region, and nearly a quarter of all sessions held in Spanish and Portuguese, we can’t wait to bring together indigenous organizations, women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, climate justice activists, and many, many more, from the margins to the center. Take a look at our Latin American and Caribbean landing page including recommendations for each day of the summit, as well as livestreams of key sessions!
The 12th edition of RightsCon is less than a week away (June 5-8, 2023) and we’re taking a moment to provide an update and reminder of the core policies, principles, and processes that help keep the summit a safe, productive, and inclusive space.
Importantly, as with past years, our Code of Conduct and Participation & Privacy Policy, remain in place and by registering, all participants agree to read through and abide by these policies.
Our approach
As we embark on our first hybrid summit, our Security Working Group (S
