ICANN and UNESCO invite proposals for UA Day 2027 events
ICANN and UNESCO have opened applications for events promoting Universal Acceptance, which helps ensure that domain names and email addresses work across Internet systems regardless of language or script. Proposals are open until 20 November 2026.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and UNESCO have opened a call for proposals for the fifth annual Universal Acceptance (UA) Day, inviting organisations and communities to organise activities promoting a more multilingual internet.
Events will take place between 25 March and 30 May 2027. Organisers can submit proposals from 8 October until 20 November 2026, with activities eligible to take place in person, online or in hybrid formats.
Universal Acceptance is a technical principle that enables valid domain names and email addresses to work across internet applications, devices and systems, regardless of the language, script or character length used. Without adequate support, users may encounter problems using addresses that include non-Latin scripts or newer domain extensions.
The call seeks proposals covering practical adoption and demonstrations of UA, its integration into academic curricula, regional strategy reviews and public awareness. Organisers are encouraged to involve stakeholders from government, academia, technical communities and business.
The initiative builds on cooperation between ICANN and UNESCO to advance multilingualism and linguistic diversity online. Their work draws on UNESCO’s 2003 Recommendation on multilingualism and universal access to cyberspace, as well as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032). In 2026, the organisations also published a joint policy brief with recommendations for advancing Universal Acceptance.
The initiative aims to broaden understanding and adoption of the technical measures needed to make the internet accessible to people using different languages and writing systems.
