The Tor Project is deeply saddened by the last-minute cancellation of RightsCon 2026 in Lusaka, Zambia, and online. The right to assemble, associate, and speak freely must not be conditioned on political approval. Convenings like RightsCon are essential precisely because they create space for difficult, urgent, and necessary conversation about power, technology, rights, and accountability.Tor's work is rooted in the belief that everyone should be able to speak freely, safely, and privately. We build tools that help people connect, communicate, organize, and seek information; especially those facing censorship, surveillance, repression, discrimination, and other forms of vulnerability. The disruption of a space dedicated to advancing these shared goals represents a serious gutpunch to the global human rights community.While the cancellation may have been the only responsible path to prevent further harm to the community, the circumstances that made it necessary are unacceptable. This moment underscores why the fight against censorship, surveillance, and restrictions on civic participation remains urgent.We share the deep concerns expressed by those directly affected: participants who were already traveling or preparing to travel, speakers and organizers who invested significant labor into this gathering, communities who were counting on these conversations, and local partners and small businesses who now face the consequences of a cancellation imposed over night.We stand in solidarity with the RightsCon and Access Now teams, who have worked to protect the safety and integrity of the community under extremely difficult circumstances. We also stand firmly with local organizers, digital rights defenders, and civil society actors in Zambia and across the region, who are left to absorb the backlash of a broader and longstanding pattern of repression against civil society.For Tor, RightsCon has been especially important because it allows us to connect directly with the people and organizations who use, teach, and share our tools with their communities. Our organization has participated in RightsCon since its first edition in 2011. Over the years, it has become a central gathering place for our broader community: a space where small open source hacker nonprofits could collaborate with more established, mainstream human rights organizations.Tor remains committed to advancing human rights online AND offline, supporting vulnerable internet users globally, and building technologies that help people break through censorship and reclaim their right to communicate freely. We will continue to work alongside the digital rights community in solidarity. human rights global south partners community