This year’s RightsCon carried admittedly a more somber tone, with funding cuts, geopolitical tensions, and labour precarity weighing heavily on many of our friends and colleagues. Yet, as always, the conference remained a space for community and solidarity, where we came together to ask: How do we show up for each other?
Advocating for interoperability in human rights tech
One of the key moments for HURIDOCS was Executive Director Danna Ingleton’s participation in a session organised by Horizontal on the importance of interoperability—not just among human rights tech tools, but among the people and organisations that build them.
“We (human rights sector) can’t afford to compete with big tech companies alone, and so we really shouldn’t be going around competing with each other.”– Danna Ingleton
Danna urged organisations, tool builders, and funders to collaborate rather than fragment their efforts. She emphasised that interoperability is not just a technical issue but a strategic necessity, calling for a shift toward building tools that complement and reinforce one another.
Figuring out how to better preserve digital evidence
HURIDOCS also hosted a roundtable discussion on preserving digital evidence, facilitated by Programme Officer Hyebin Bina Jeon. Participants shared the growing challenges they face, including the increasing difficulty of accessing data in shrinking civic spaces, legal constraints on cross-border data transfers, and the need to clearly define what constitutes valid evidence. Infrastructure barriers, such as low bandwidth and internet shutdowns, further complicate documentation efforts, while forensic science remains underutilised in many contexts.
Discussions on data verification examined both the affordances and limitations of open-source intelligence (OSINT). Participants stressed the importance of community-centered documentation, ensuring that local needs and advocacy goals shape how evidence is gathered and preserved. The session reaffirmed the urgency of developing secure, practical, and survivor-centered evidence preservation strategies that reflect the realities of frontline documentation.
Protecting data subjects everywhere
OTF Senior ICFP Fellow in Information Controls, Tomiwa Ilori, joined the session hosted by Access Now, “Protecting data subject rights everywhere: assessing extraterritorial enforcement of data protection frameworks across the globe.”
Panelists shared insights on extraterritorial enforcement of data protection frameworks from LatAm, Middle East and North Africa, Africa and Europe. A common concern across all regions is the lack of governance frameworks for extraterritorial enforcement. And even where such exist, these are rarely enforced.
Panelists emphasised the need for governments, civil society, and businesses to implement extraterritorial provisions to protect data subjects globally and hold data controllers accountable for personal data across borders.
Celebrating our partners at the Community Village
HURIDOCS had a booth at the Community Village, where we showcased the powerful ways our partners use Uwazi, our open-source database tool. It was a joy to reconnect with longtime collaborators and introduce new friends to our work. HURIDOCS Senior Documentalist Bono Olgado was busy throughout the event, exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, and building new connections.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who stopped by. We look forward to continuing these conversations and working together in the months ahead.
Reimagining human rights work in a shifting landscape
This year’s RightsCon carried a clear message: the human rights sector must critically reassess how it works. Many sessions reflected this theme, from discussions on collaborative documentation efforts to explorations of AI and machine learning, as well as conversations about environmental sustainability and the need to reshape the funding landscape. At the heart of every discussion were the courageous human rights defenders continuing their work amidst crisis and precarity.
As the field undergoes seismic shifts, HURIDOCS remains committed not just to our mission but to the people we serve. We look forward to continuing this work alongside our partners and the broader human rights community.
Next year, we will gather again for RightsCon 2026 in Africa, where we look forward to meeting a community that has not only remained resilient but has emerged stronger than before.
Until then, let’s keep showing up for each other.