Madiha Abdalla
Woman human rights defender, Madiha Abdalla, is a Sudanese journalist with an academic background in media and political science. She has been working as a journalist in Sudan since 1985 including as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Maydan from 2012 to 2015. The WHRD also headed the political department of Al Ayam Newspaper, which mostly focused on economic, social and cultural rights, women’s rights, gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict zones, and issues related to the environment.
Madiha Abdalla is one of the founders of Alalag Press Services, which was established in 2007. The organisation aims to promote freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Sudan. Through her work she has contributed to raising awareness on these issues and built the capacity of journalists in mass media institutions developing their technical skills as well as their knowledge of women’s rights, broader human rights and good governance. The WHRD also works to build partnerships between professional journalists and local reporters. As a result, local reporters are able to provide journalists with first-hand information about the issues occurring in their local areas.
In her capacity as a WHRD, Madiha Abdalla has participated in many regional and international human rights events. As manager of the information unit in Alalag Press Services, she has also worked as a teacher on topics of human rights and freedom of expression, a team leader preparing guidelines for popular correspondents (2015) and booklets providing information about hate speech (2016), written help books on the topic of media writing in Sudan (2018), and prepared an investigative report on the negative impact of mining in the Nile River State (2021). She has done all of this whilst continuing to write opinion columns and press reports on a number of press websites.
After the outbreak of war in Sudan, Madiha Abdalla began working as a volunteer in many shelter centres in the Alazeera State, caring for women and children, holding dialogue sessions and listening to their experiences regarding war and displacement. Her documentation of testimonies has helped provide information to local, regional and international civil organisations in identifying the needs of shelter centres, especially the needs of women in such centres.
The WHRD’s work has also helped to reveal the conditions of the displaced and those wounded by military operations through a series of press reports on various media sites. She has used her role as a journalist to highlight the issue of those disappeared during the war in Sudan and written a series of reports on the impact of the war on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, journalists, education, children, and civilian life in general.
