ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

02/06/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/06/2026 08:10

ICANN and UNESCO Announce Schedule of Events for UA Day 2026

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today announced that the events schedule for the fourth annual Universal Acceptance (UA) Day is now available. UA Day 2026 will be held through the end of May and will feature more than 30 events in over 30 countries. ICANN and UNESCO invite the UA community around the world to take part in these events and help achieve a more multilingual global Internet.

Organized by ICANN and with support from UNESCO and interested global partners, UA Day serves as a global rallying point for raising awareness and mobilizing support for UA among technical and language communities, governments, businesses, and the Domain Name System (DNS) industry. UA is a technical requirement that is considered a cornerstone of today's global Internet. UA ensures that all valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of script, language, or character length, can be equally used by all Internet-enabled applications, devices, and systems. Achieving UA ensures that everyone, regardless of the language they speak, can experience the full social and economic power of the Internet.

UNESCO actively promotes UA as a key enabler of linguistic diversity online, including through the monitoring of the implementation of the 2003 Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace and in support of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). This work is further advanced through UNESCO's Global Roadmap for Multilingualism in the Digital Era, which identifies UA as a foundational technical requirement for inclusive digital transformation.

Since its launch in 2023, tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries around the world have helped champion UA through participation in UA Day events. UA Day 2026 sessions will cover topics ranging from awareness to adoption, as well as a session targeting academic institutions looking to incorporate UA into the curriculum. As in years past, both in-person and virtual participation is offered. In this context, UNESCO mobilizes its global network of Field Offices to support and amplify UA Day events worldwide, fostering engagement with governments, technical communities, academia, and local language stakeholders.

Those interested in taking part can view this year's schedule here: https://www.icann.org/ua-day-2026-events-en.

UNESCO and ICANN to celebrate Universal Acceptance Day: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-and-icann-celebrate-universal-acceptance-day

About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address - a name or a number - into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world.
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