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Nadia Aït Zaï, born on August 5, 1952 (age 67) in M'daourouch in the present-day wilaya of Souk Ahras, is a human rights activist, lawyer and professor at Ben-Aknoun Law School. She is the founder and director of the Centre for Information and Documentation on the Rights of Children and Women, CIDDEF. She is President of the Equality Foundation and a member of the Maghreb Equality Collective 95. She serves as an expert in the Economic and Social Rights Subgroup of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Biography
Nadia Aït Zaï began campaigning for women's and children's rights in the early 1970s. Between 1979 and 1984 she was first deputy mayor for central Algiers.

Nadia Aït Zaï studied at the Law School of Algiers in Ben-Aknoun where she has been teaching since 1984 when she joined the Algiers Bar.

In 1993, she joined the Maghreb Equality Collective 95 which works for gender equality in the Maghreb.

In 2002, she founded the Centre d’Information et de Documentation sur les Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme/ Fondation pour l'Egalité, (The Information and Documentation Center on the Rights of the Child and the Woman / Foundation for Equality) CIDDEF. CIDDEF has documented the women's movement since the 1990s, and this documentary background serves as a support for associated movements to build their demands.

CIDDEF advocates for reform of laws that discriminate against women. It is also dedicated to awareness-raising of equality and human rights issues through it's website, the publication of several books, the monthly journal of CIDDEF, as well as the organisation of seminars and conferences with various civil society organisations.

CIDDE F carried out the first study on  the representation of women in the Maghreb, whic h allowed the association to pursue a 10-year plea for the adoption of a quota law for women in elected assemblies.

Nadia Aït Zaï, regularly publishes on children's rights and women's rights in Algeria and beyond.

She remains one of the most active activists in Algerian civil society, and considers that working family law reform is a priority.