Zambia rights summit cancelled after Chinese pressure

US-based organizers of an international human rights conference said they canceled the conference days before it was due to open because China pressured the African host country to exclude Taiwanese activists.

Organizers of Access Now, a New York-based advocacy group, said late Friday that the Zambian government had canceled the RightsCon summit scheduled for next week in Zambia after initially saying it had been postponed.

Access Now said Zambian officials had received information that the government was being pressured by China over the conference “because Taiwanese civil society participants were planning to join us in person.”

Access Now said it rejected any move to exclude delegates from Taiwan.

“We believe the reason RightCon 2026 is not going ahead in Zambia is due to foreign interference,” Access Now said in a statement.

“What the government is asking of us to lift the postponement has been communicated to us informally from multiple sources: … we will need to moderate certain matters and exclude at-risk communities, including our Taiwanese participants, from in-person and online participation.”

The Zambian government had previously said it was postponing the conference as it sought information on themes and discussion topics to ensure it was aligned with the country’s “national values, policy priorities and broader public interest considerations”.

Zambia has strong political and economic ties with China, largely through China’s mining interests in the mineral-rich southern African country.

RightsCon is an annual conference focused on human rights and technology, addressing topics such as internet censorship, electronic surveillance and cyberwarfare.

Access Now said more than 2,600 participants will attend in Zambia, with 1,100 participating online.

They represented more than 150 countries. Last year’s summit was held in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Digital Affairs Minister Lin Yi-jing said on Facebook on Saturday that the summit’s cancellation showed China’s discomfort with “the ideas of freedom, democracy and the rule of law that Taiwan and RightsCon represent.”

Human Rights Watch said Zambian authorities should explain their actions.

The Zambian government’s move comes just a week after Taiwan claimed Beijing intervened to prevent Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te from visiting Eswatini, another southern African country, on April 22.

Taiwan said Lai’s visit to Eswatini, the only African country that maintains official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, was canceled after the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles were pressured by China not to allow Lai’s plane to fly over their territory.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs praised the actions of the three countries and said that “adherence to the one-China principle is fully in line with international law.”

China claims self-ruled Taiwan is a breakaway province that can be retaken by force if necessary, and prohibits countries with diplomatic relations from maintaining official ties with Taipei.

China has significant influence in Africa.

Taiwanese leader Lai made a surprise statement on Saturday, saying that he came to Eswatini after the first visit was cancelled.

This time, Lai did not publicly announce that he was traveling.

Taiwan “can never be deterred by external pressures,” Lai wrote in X.