Mission Invisible: How Collaboration Sparks Rights-Based Digital Change in Asia-Pacific based on Communities Feedback.

This panel will explore how civil society organizations across Asia—many with no prior background in digital rights—are stepping into the arena of tech and telecom accountability, using practical, community-driven tools from the Engaging Tech for Internet Freedom (ETIF) initiative. Drawing on lessons from conflict-affected contexts, the discussion will highlight how shadow Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIAs) conducted with the CLARITI methodology and the new CSO Guidelines for Engagement with ICT Companies in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRA) can equip grassroots groups to document harm, open dialogue with tech firms, and push for meaningful change.

The session will share insights from the experiences using CLARITI to conduct shadow HRIAs on Facebook in Vietnam and X in China, showing how localized, multilingual assessments—available in Mandarin, Vietnamese, Uyghur, and Myanmar—can strengthen accountability and advocacy.

Participants will gain: 

• A hands-on understanding of how to use CLARITI’s shadow HRIA process and CSO Guidelines to advance responsible tech engagement;
• Insights into digital repression and corporate responses in high-risk contexts;
• Practical strategies for building dialogue with companies—without needing to be a digital rights insider;
• A clear roadmap for engaging the private sector in authoritarian or conflict-affected environments.

1. Svetlana Zens
   ARTICLE 19
2. C F
   Human Rights in China
3. Long Trinh
   Legal Initiatives for Vietnam
4. Min Thu
   CLARITI