INTERVIEW/RightsCon digital rights summit to be held in Taipei for first time

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taipei has been selected as the host city for the 2025 RightsCon, an international conference focused on digital rights to be held in late February, because of its protections of democracy, freedom, and human rights, the event's organizer said.

"For us, it was a natural step" to choose Taiwan as the place to host the four-day summit, Alejandro Mayoral Baños, executive director of Access Now, which runs the RightsCon, told CNA in an inclusive interview.

Mayoral Baños praised Taiwan's strong commitment to protecting democracy, freedom and human rights and also highlighted the "momentum" Taiwan has built up in recent years after hosting several major human rights community gatherings.

It will be the first time RightsCon is held in East Asia since its inception in 2011.

From Feb. 24 to 27, more than 550 discussion sessions will be held in Taipei and online, bringing together activists, journalists, government representatives and business leaders from around the world to address pressing issues related to human rights in the digital age.

Notable speakers at this year's event include former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay, OECD tech official Rashad Abelson, and Tanzanian Parliamentarian Neema Lugangira.

While many of the issues to be addressed will be global, the summit will also seek to highlight East Asian perspectives by including stakeholders and policy makers from the region, including Taiwan, Mayoral Baños said.

Several Taiwanese NGOs will take part in the event, including Amnesty International Taiwan and the Taiwan Network Information Center, and the Taiwan government's National Human Rights Commission will co-host a workshop with its Philippine counterpart.

Participants in the four-day forum will discuss personal data protection, sustainable development, and the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) while exploring ways to safeguard communities at risk and bridging the digital divide, Mayoral Baños said.

These discussions are crucial for a global digital rights movement that has experienced tremendous disruptions due to emerging new technologies and a shift in the geopolitical environment, he said.

While generative AI and space data have introduced many positive changes to society, technology can result in "very negative consequences," according to the human rights campaigner who was trained in computer engineering.

Technologies "can be tools for liberation, but they can also be tools for repression," Mayoral Baños said.

Harnessing technology for positive causes requires increasing public awareness, building capacity in communities at risk and fostering partnerships with tech companies, he said.

That's what Access Now, a New-York headquartered NGO dedicated to promoting digital rights, has been doing, according to Mayoral Baños, who has headed the group since October 2024.

According to Mayoral Baños, capacity building involves working with at-risk communities, such as activists, journalists, as well as LGBTQI+ and Indigenous peoples, to enhance their digital literacy and provide them with tools to protect against surveillance and other cyber threats.

The more complex part of Access Now's work is to engage with tech companies, he said, noting that while the human rights groups have often had a tense relationship with the tech community, he considered getting them involved crucial to the effort.

The goal, he said, is to identify the human rights "champions" within those companies and collaborate with them, he said, referring to those willing to advocate for ethical standards and human-centric policies.

This has become increasingly challenging, he acknowledged, because of what he characterized as the "new political landscape" amid the rise of figures like United States President Donald Trump and other firebrands in global politics.

Just two weeks before Trump returned to the White House, for example, Meta Platforms, Inc., owner of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, announced its decision to scrap its fact-checking program in the U.S. and reduce restrictions on discussions of contentious topics.

These new developments "are changing the entire dynamic of how we interact with tech companies," Mayoral Baños said.

But the Mexican-born human rights activist remains confident about engaging with both tech companies and civil society groups, and through such efforts, pushing for human rights initiatives.

The 2025 version of RightsCon, where tech giants like Google Inc. will be on board, is one such example.

Describing himself as a "translator" between the two worlds in which he has both expertise and experience, Mayoral Baños said only by not excluding either side can one move agendas forward more effectively.