From the 15 percent of people around the world who live with a disability, 8 in 10 reside in developing countries. Although Article 21 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD) grants them the right to accessible information, people with disabilities often face communication barriers due to a lack of information accessibility.

In 2019, popular protests in Iraq called for the end of corruption, better public services, and constitutional and electoral reforms. In the wake of these protests–known as the Tishreen (“October”) movement–the chasm of distrust between decision-makers and citizens grew in size and visibility. This divide drove young reform-minded activists to mobilize and reconnect with local political communities.

In August, NDI’s Democracy and Technology (DemTech) team traveled to Honduras to provide three women’s rights organizations in the Consorcio de Mujeres Unidas por Honduras (or Consortium of Women United for Honduras) tools and support to strengthen their digital security. Building digital resilience is essential for civil society organizations (CSOs) to operate safely and effectively. A compromised device, hacked email account, or sensitive information sent through unencrypted channels endangers the organization as well as the communities it serves.

As international elections approach and fears about potential security threats increase, NDI and its partners are leading the way and finding common solutions to the new technology-based challenges that elections are facing. The 7th edition of the Information Integrity Conference (DISICON-7) was a part of this critical effort focused on the intersections of artificial intelligence (AI), online information and electoral integrity.