Cities Coalition for Digital Rights Annual Meeting 2025

In June 2025, we were delighted to attend the seventh Annual Meeting and General Assembly for the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights (CC4DR) at the Casa Da Musica, in Porto, Portugal. 

As cities accelerate digitally, it is more important than ever to be conscious of rapidly changing technology solutions that are being deployed in the public sector. The Annual Meeting provided a great opportunity to share ongoing projects and future ambitions with our fellow Coalition member cities. 

In this digital age, within the larger umbrella of human rights, digital rights are the human rights that exist online. Dublin has been involved with CC4DR since 2019, and 2022 Dublin was selected as one of the four cities to participate in the Digital Rights Governance Framework Pilot Project. Cities Coalition for Digital Rights centres around four core principles: digital inclusion, digital democracy, data protection, and responsible technologies. Our ongoing work with CC4DR to uphold and mainstream digital rights in the public sector also directly correlates to the standard laid out in the Irish Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty to uphold human rights, promote equality, and eliminate discrimination in public bodies in Ireland.

One particular highlight at the CC4DR Annual Meeting was being able to share the work we have been doing in Dublin City Council and the Dublin Docklands community to educate citizens about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI (GenAI) through our ‘expl[ai]n’ workshops. To date, over 250 citizens – including both local authority employees and members of the public – have completed the expl[ai]n workshops and learned introductory information about Traditional AI and Generative AI (GenAI), the EU AI Act, and how data and digital rights impact the use of AI. This proactive workshop initiative is crucial to getting ahead of the curve about misinformation that can spread about AI and digital technologies.

Embedding knowledge around digital rights in conjunction with the ethical use of AI in the public sector strengthens the just transition toward human-centered smart cities. Dublin has been focused on supporting the goals of CC4DR to empower cities and residents to support digital rights.

We are looking forward to continuing our support of digital rights education in the public sector. Keep posted on our work on our LinkedIn and Instagram, and keep an eye out for information around International Digital Rights Days – December 10th and 11th!