Building on the momentum fostered in its inaugural edition last year, EngageMedia is set to host the 2024 edition of the Digital Rights in the Asia-Pacific (DRAPAC) Assembly in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 18 to 19, 2024, ahead of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF).
DRAPAC24 aims to stimulate collective brainstorming and forge alliances in response to the evolving digital threats in the Asia-Pacific. The two-day convening will feature a diverse mix of plenary sessions, capacity-building workshops, digital security labs, and solidarity events, bringing together over 100 attendees across the region: from civil society representatives and human rights defenders to journalists, activists, technologists, researchers, and more.
While smaller in scale, DRAPAC24 will focus on three broad themes complementing APrIGF’s overarching theme of evolving ecosystems and enduring principles in the internet governance space:
- Regionality (human rights in the region): What are our common challenges? Where do we diverge? Which regional platforms should we engage in solidarity? What critical perspectives warrant action and consideration at the regional level? What collaborative mechanism can we put in place?
- Youth engagement: What are the pressing youth perspectives on technology governance? How might young voices be mobilized to safeguard human rights in the digital rights space? How can young advocates and established and emergent actors in the digital rights space collaborate to deepen knowledge and engage in strategic advocacy?
- Open and secure technology: How might we better secure communications for HRDs? What are the state-of-the-art open and secured technologies for anti-censorship and anti-surveillance? How do we bridge the gap between the availability of human rights technology and its adoption at the end-user level? How do we foster the Free and Open Source communities in the region to better serve HRDs?
