Albina Digaeva

Albina Digaeva

Born	August 28, 1978 (1978-08-28) (age 29) Grozny, Chechnya
Occupation	Co-founder of Chechnya Advocacy Network, Student
Website Chechnya Advocacy Network

Albina Digaeva (Chechen: Альбина Дигаева) (born August 28, 1978 in Grozny, Chechnya) is a prominent Chechen-American human rights activist, student, and former refugee who co-founded Chechnya Advocacy Network with her friend Almut Rochowanski in February 2004.[1] Albina has written and spoken extensively on the Chechen wars, and has lectured at numerous college campuses in the United States. Her brother Albert Digaev, also a prominent Chechen-American, is the founder of the social networking website Amina - Chechen Republic Online.[2]

[edit] Biography

Albina was born in Grozny, Chechnya and lived with her grandparents and older brother Albert. During this time, Chechen ethnographer and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Zalpa Bersanova was their neighbor. At the conclusion of the First Chechen War, Albina came to the United States as an international student in 1998, as Albert had arrived two years earlier. With the start of the Second Chechen War, both applied for and received political asylum in 1999 .[3]

As an architecture student at Berkeley City College, Albina felt that the horrors of the Chechen wars and the plight of Chechen refugees had been largely ignored by the American media and the American people, so she decided to become an advocate for Chechnya and the Chechen people. She co-founded Chechnya Advocacy Network in February 2004 as a means of organizing the various academics and volunteers in the United States passionate about the issues facing Chechens worldwide. Albina envisioned this new organization as one that would promote advocacy on Chechnya and the Chechens, increase the political, economic, and social viability of the Chechen diaspora, and address the needs of Chechens.[4] Chechnya Advocacy Network has grown to become the largest Chechnya-specific organization in North America.

Albina has spoken on behalf of her organization numerous times on the Pacifica Radio Network, reaching a nationwide audience. She has also provided political analysis for the EurasiaNet international affairs research institution on a wide range of issues, such the political situation in Afghanistan and the role of the International Security Assistance Force.[5] Albina has written a memoir of her memories of Chechnya entitled "Memories of a Lost Homeland" to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the forced deportations of most Chechens to Central Asia.[6]

Albina has worked on the famous paintings Tower, Trees, Cup, and Toilet Paper.[7] She has also worked for the American Institute of Architects.[8]

Albina aspires to become an architect upon graduation.