Mariam Diallo Dramé

Mariam Diallo Dramé is a Malian human rights activist focused not only on standing up for the rights of underrepresented people, but also the rights of fellow advocates to continue their work in the face of oppression. She has received global notoriety for establishing several organizations dedicated to helping protect the rights of women and children. 

At the age of thirteen Mariam founded the Children’s Parliament of Mali after seeing the suffering of children living in the streets of Mali’s capital, Bamako. Establishing this organization would serve as the starting point for Mariam’s lifelong commitment to bettering the world. After fifteen years of humanitarian efforts Diallo Dramé would go on to become the founder and president of the Association of Women’s Leadership and Sustainable Development, an organization that advocates for women’s health and reproductive rights, as well as, advancing opportunities for education and leadership. 

Despite her attempts to protect basic human rights in Mali, Mariam has faced intense adversity in her pursuits. Due to the volatile, militarized political state of Mali, her efforts have resulted in attacks on her character and threats against her life, a reality all too common for many human rights defenders. For this reason, Diallo Dramé has joined other advocates to form the Front Line Defenders, a collective  dedicated to the creation and implementation of legal policy to ensure proper protections for human rights defenders in Mali to be able to safely conduct their work.