Fatimata Mbaye

Me Fatimata Mbaye "is a human rights lawyer and President of the Mauritanian Human Rights Association (AMDH), which was awarded the ‘Anti-Slavery Award’ in 1998. Ms Mbaye’s work defending human rights has resulted in her arrest and imprisonment in Mauritania. In 1999, Ms. Mbaye became the first African to receive the third Nuremberg International Prize for Human Rights, awarded to individuals held to be “symbolic figures in the struggle for the recognition and respect for human rights in Africa”. She is the only woman member of the Mauritanian Bar."

• Former Director, Open Initiative for West Africa
• Vice President, International Federation for Human Rights