2026 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly

Mark your calendars: The 2026 Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly (DRAPAC) will hold its fourth edition from June 8 to 10, 2026 in Manila, Philippines!

The DRAPAC26 Assembly expounds on the previous year’s theme of collective digital futures and recenters its focus towards the movement’s co-creation of collective resources. Amidst shrinking civic spaces, diminishing resources, and digital governance that routinely sideline civil society and undermine fundamental rights, DRAPAC26 calls on all rights defenders, allies and stakeholders to work on building shared infrastructure for the future of our region’s digital rights movement.

Following Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship, DRAPAC26 also aims to take advantage of the Philippines’ role as the 2026 ASEAN chair to further the movement’s collaborative shaping of rights-based digital governance in Southeast Asia.

DRAPAC26 Manila is co-hosted by the Foundation for Media Alternatives, DAKILA Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism, and EngageMedia. DRAPAC26 Manila follows in the footsteps of the previous assemblies held in Kuala Lumpur (2025), which saw over 500 changemakers gather to discuss collaborative solutions to shared digital rights challenges, as well as Taipei (2024) and Chiang Mai (2023).