The World Press Freedom Day will hold May 4 and 5, in Lusaka, Zambia. The global conference, themed, “Shaping a Future at Peace”, will bring together press freedom advocates and digital rights communities at a time when the boundaries between journalism, technology, civic space, and human rights are increasingly intertwined. It will enable cross-fertilisation of ideas, solutions and approaches – including gender-responsive perspectives – between journalists, digital rights advocates, technologists, policy makers, regulators, civil society organizations, academia, researchers, educators, youth leaders and content creators.

This convergence offers a platform to move beyond diagnosis toward coordinated action, aligning journalism, technology (including AI), and human rights actors around practical ways to strengthen information ecosystems for the future.

The conference will offer a critical moment to reaffirm freedom of expression both as a normative and empirical lever for shaping the future of information societies. It will be co-hosted with the Government of Zambia and organized back-to-back with RightsCon 2026.