The IO Foundation (TIOF), the larger organization under which Project Lockdown (PLD) operates, will be presenting at RightsCon 2021, taking place on June 7-11. With over 500 sessions across 20 different program categories, the event will be an in-depth investigation of the intersections between technology and human rights.
Why RightsCon?
Project Lockdown monitors Digital and Human Rights globally, making the organization a natural fit with RightsCon’s purpose. Participating at RightsCon for the second time and celebrating one year anniversary of the project, PLD wants to share the key takeaways learned since the project’s launch.PLD’s founder, Jean Queralt, comments, “Presenting PLD at RightsCon is important to me because it validates all the work and efforts that everyone has put into it...You never know what will be the outcomes, what we know is that we bloody made it”.
Participating at RightsCon is a significant achievement for the project. It is a space for PLD to share its passion and contribute to Rightscon with its work on technology and human rights, as well as to meet with other organizations doing similar work.
Rashika Senapathy, who is the HR Coordinator of PLD, emphasizes the importance of the event. “RightsCon brings together so many people from all over the world to discuss Human Rights, making it a very exciting opportunity for us. Participation in an event like RightsCon has the potential to get us the attention and connections,” she says.
How will PLD be involved at RightsCon?
The IO Foundation will be involved in three different sessions at RightsCon:
Strategic foresight: seeing programmers as frontline human and digital rights workers and civil society engagement with technical standards development
The work of programmers in defending Human and Digital Rights is a core part of TIOF. This is a community-lab session, co-led by Kaliya Young, focused on this very relevant, important subject.
Just another framework or something worthwhile? Leveraging the UNGPs on business and human rights.
Co-hosted with a variety of other initiatives (InternetLab, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, Global Partners Digital, and the Bloggers Association of Kenya), this strategy session will investigate the role of the UN’s Guiding Principles on business and human rights. Queralt notes, “We'll be presenting our work on this area in Malaysia and our broader vision as to how tech companies can implement technical solutions to observe Human (and Digital) Rights in their operations”.
Project Lockdown: keeping your rights unlocked.
This is a tech demo (a pre-recorded presentation) that directly features our project. It was created with the help of PLD’s two student volunteers - Yazhini Ramesh and Grace Yan.
PLD is a volunteer-run organization, consisting of over 50 members from all around the world. All of our volunteers put a lot of effort on a daily basis into PLD and we are grateful for their contributions! Senapathy agrees, saying “Their participation exemplifies PLD’s aim to spread awareness among all citizens of the world, especially the younger generation who are the future agents of change.” To become a volunteer with Project Lockdown, please feel free to contact us.
We hope to see you at RightsCon! For more information on the conference, click here.
