Imagen de la transmisión en vivo de una de las mesas redondas celebradas durante el LACIGF de este año, en la que participó la comunidad de APC.
What do we need to promote digital rights in the Latin American and Caribbean region? The recent regional meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Governance Forum (LACIGF), held on 5-6 November 2025 in Córdoba, Argentina, gave us the chance to ask our members Colnodo and Derechos Digitales to share what gives them hope, what changes they would like to see, and how we can act collectively at APC to bring about that change.
Their answers point to some essential elements in the field of digital technologies, namely creating safe spaces for all people, including historically vulnerable communities, acting to dismantle structural inequalities and inequities, and promoting cooperation and exchanges among civil society organisations and movements that are not only resisting, but also proposing other alternatives for feasible futures.
This year’s LACIGF meeting was an opportunity in that sense. The organisations that attended the event and met face to face seized the occasion to weave together reflections and courses of action on urgent issues, such as internet shutdowns and the WSIS+20 review process, a global initiative of the United Nations that, 20 years after the World Summit on the Information Society, looks at the progress achieved and the challenges faced in the construction of a more inclusive, equitable and people-centred digital society.
Continue reading to learn more.
Keeping hope alive in the face of growing challenges
“We are at a very complex geopolitical moment. I think we are constantly and increasingly facing restrictions to the civic space, laws that prioritise punitive measures instead of balancing rights.” That is how Paloma Lara Castro, director of public policies at Derechos Digitales, defines the current challenging context, noting as well the fragility of the international system for the protection of human rights. However, there are clear signs pointing to the importance of continuing to resist and propose alternatives.
Having turned 20 in June, Derechos Digitales chose LACIGF 2025 to celebrate its two decades of activity by launching the latest edition of its publication “Latin America in a Glimpse” and holding a collective dialogue on resistance in the region. This new report reviews the leading debates, advances and challenges that have marked the last 20 years, and it also includes a card game with 60 milestones that can be used to prompt conversations, connect experiences and build shared memories.
For example, for 2025, the cards point to human rights defence problems in the area of technology, such as a reduction in the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives implemented by big tech companies, and the disputes arising around the installation of data centres in Latin America. They also highlight advances, such as greater recognition by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the link between the climate emergency and human rights, emphasising the responsibility of the private sector, with special focus on big tech companies, because of their environmental and social impacts, including the power centres’ water and power consumption.
The answers are in the hands of the communities
For Lara Castro, in this scenario of disputes it is necessary to balance asymmetrical situations that we see replicated in the digital sphere and which not only exacerbate preexisting inequalities, but create new forms of exclusion as well, so as to effectively address them and generate both new legislation and public policy mechanisms.
“For example, we need to underscore issues that have to do with technology-facilitated gender-based violence. I would like to see structural progress with respect to this violence, not just isolated or fragmented actions, but actions that are truly focused on moving forward from the perspective of the survivors and the victims, who should lead the discussions that affect them the most. We can say the same for populations in situations of vulnerability who are living under different conditions, such as Indigenous peoples and other communities. It is not my intention to exclude any or name them all, but we must understand the need to contemplate their differentiated needs.”
Another critical step to move forward towards structural change is networking. “I love how we work in a coordinated way, not just on a professional level, but on a personal level too, how we also help each other in hard times that require emotional support,” she adds.
Multiplying digital security schools
Similarly, Colnodo director Julián Casasbuenas highlights the need to create secure digital spaces for all. Throughout the past decade, Colnodo has consolidated a major line of work focused on the prevention of violence against women in digital spaces. According to Casasbuenas, this approach emerged very early on and enabled the incorporation of a permanent form of reflection on risks faced online. This led to greater awareness within the organisation of “the risks of using technologies and especially of the risks faced by women.”
With time, the initiative evolved towards training processes inspired by international experiences. With the support of eQualitie – a Canadian member of APC – Colnodo replicated the Digital Security School experience in Colombia, based on models implemented in other countries. This work has expanded the capacity to analyse risks and strengthen protection for activists, journalists and human rights defenders, who also face threats in the territories where they live and work. Casasbuenas notes that furthering the expansion of alliances such as these and others on a regional level is the way to move forward in the defence of digital rights.
Alternatives for dealing with internet shutdowns
In the framework of LACIGF, the APC community also gathered on 6 November for the presentation of the Spanish version of the Internet Shutdown Game. This tool was designed to raise awareness about the different tactics employed to restrict internet access, as well as to enhance participants’ understanding of internet infrastructure, shutdown procedures and the use of various tools to circumvent them.
Launched originally in English, the internet shutdown game is now available in Spanish on this website, which also offers a support manual for facilitators. According to the website, “Governments resort to internet shutdowns for a wide array of purposes and they are a troubling phenomenon that not only disrupts digital connectivity, but also poses a significant threat to human rights.”
More voices and more dialogue on internet governance
APC, Global Partners Digital, Derechos Digitales and Data Privacy Brazil – all members of the Global Digital Rights Coalition for WSIS+20 – also organised an event called “The future of WSIS: Challenges and opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean”.
The WSIS+20 process is at a critical moment, which will culminate in the adoption of an outcome document. Discussions at LACIGF focused on updating the regional priorities that the various stakeholders have for WSIS+20, identifying common areas of interest at a crucial time in the negotiations and furthering shared strategies for areas of cooperation among the actors involved.
For Lara Castro, whose contributions drew on the “Joint statement on WSIS and human rights: A fundamental relationship”, the outcome document of the WSIS+20 review should consistently and progressively acknowledge the fundamental importance of human rights in the governance of digital technologies and the implementation of the WSIS Lines of Action.
The connections and coordination that took place during LACIGF and the many other forms of joint action and mutual solidarity that transcend the spaces of these events give Lara Castro reason for hope.
“I would like to highlight civil society’s resistance, growth and organisation and underscore how in these IGF spaces we not only have the possibility of gathering and connecting with each other to discuss what we are doing, share views and even good practices in resistance efforts, we also learn about everything we are all doing in our organisations, always with the aim of achieving real progress in the protection of human rights in digital spaces through technologies. So civil society resists and that is also synonymous with our progress.”
The interviews were conducted by Adolfo Dunayevich in November 2025 and the article was written by Débora Prado.