Asmaou Diallo’s human rights work started following the events of 28 September 2009 when the Guinean military attacked peaceful demonstrators. Over 150 were killed, including her oldest son, and over 100 women raped. Hundreds more were injured.
She worked with victims, relatives, and friends to found l’Association des Parents et Amis des Victimes du 28 septembre 2009 (APIVA), which to obtain justice for these crimes and to provide medical and vocational support to victims of sexual assault, many of whom cannot return to their homes. Many of those responsible are high profile public figures.
Asmaou Diallo is the founder of l’Association des Parents et Amis des Victimes du 28 septembre 2009 (APIVA), a support group that provides medical and vocational support to victims of sexual assault
APIVA has the following main objectives:
Provide economic assistance to individual victims and their families to enable them to overcome these difficult times and to return as quickly as possible to normal life: For example, school support was provided to children victims with the support of UNICEF.
Psycho-Medical assistance to victims of 28 September: Since 2011, torture victims undergo treatment in a clinic (Mother and Child) which works with APIVA for the survival of the victims.
Promoting respect for human rights in Guinean society. She was elected as a member of the steering committee of the youth organizations building program in Guinea (PROJEG) in April 2013.
Vocational training for victims to empower them and ensure a quick and safe reintegration into the socio-economic life: Vocational training includes skills in soap making and hair dressing to allow women who have been rejected by their families to support themselves and their children. Women have been grouped into cooperatives.
Asmaou Diallo giving a speech at the Martin Ennals Award Ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. She was a finalist for the 2015 prize.
Legal Assistance: Four hundred victims were heard by the court that was set up by the transitional government, and were able to have eleven (11) people charged.
Despite the climate of accusation, suspicion, in the aftermath of 28 September 2009, with the help and support of several international institutions such as FIDH, OHCHR, and others APIVA has been able to seek justice for the victims and their families as well as rehabilitation for many of those affected.
She was born in 1959 in Yembering (Mali) Guinea, and is the mother of four (4) children. She graduated from the University of Sofonia with a degree in Agricultural Sciences. Since 1985 she has worked as a teacher and then took up a position in the Department of Literacy in the Ministry of Pre-University Education and Literacy.