H.E. Bineta Diop is the Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), CoConvener of the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN), and former Special Envoy of the
Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Women, Peace and Security, a position
she held from 2014. A globally recognised advocate for women’s rights, leadership, peace
and security, she brings over 40 years of experience in human rights, gender equality and
development, including nearly two decades with the International Commission of Jurists in
Geneva.
Through FAS, an international NGO she established in Switzerland in 1996, she has led
pioneering initiatives to strengthen African women’s leadership in conflict prevention,
mediation and peacebuilding. She facilitated women’s participation in major peace
processes, including the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi (2000),
the Sun City Agreement for the Democratic Republic of Congo (2002) and the Akosombo
Peace Talks (2003). She spearheaded women’s platforms such as the Mano River Women’s
Peace Network, recipient of the United Nations General Assembly Prize in Human Rights
(2003), and the Great Lakes Women’s Platform for Peace, Security and Cooperation (2013),
and pioneered the Women’s Situation Room model for peaceful elections in Liberia,
Senegal, Mali and Guinea.
Her leadership has significantly contributed to shaping Africa’s key gender equality
frameworks, including the Maputo Protocol, the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in
Africa and the AU Gender Parity Decision. This engagement led her to found the Gender is
My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC), a leading network of African women’s and civil society
organisations. She played a central role in advancing the adoption of the African Union
Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in 2025. She also initiated
Empowering Women in Agriculture (EWA) and the PanAfrican Centre for Gender, Peace
and Development (PAC).
As Special Envoy, she served on the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan
and regularly briefed the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council on the
women, peace and security agenda.
Her global impact has earned her some of the world’s most prestigious distinctions,
including TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2011), the Prix Félix HouphouëtBoigny for the Search for Peace (2011), the French Legion of Honour (Chevalier, 2013), the
Chirac Foundation Special Jury Prize for Conflict Prevention (2013) and honorary
doctorates from the UN-mandated University for Peace (2012), Middlesex University,
London (2014) and from the University of Manchester UK in 2026.
