Nighat Dad

Lawyer, human rights activist

TED Fellow Nighat Dad heads the Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan — a researched based advocacy not-for-profit geared towards ICT to support human rights, democratic processes, and digital governance.

Why you should listen

Nighat Dad is an accomplished lawyer and a human rights activist. She is one of the pioneers who have been campaigning around access to open internet in Pakistan and globally. She is the only Pakistani fellow for Young Global Leaders 2018 supported by World Economic Forum and TEDGlobal Fellows for 2017. She has been listed as a Next Generation Leader by TIME and is the recipient of Atlantic Council Freedom Award and Human Rights Tulip Award.

Dad has been fighting against online gender-based violence, making the internet safe and inclusive for everyone to use. She's been referred to as the "Pakistani lawyer trolling the trolls" by BBC for her valor in calling out the harassers online. She has been actively advocating for increased participation of women in public spaces through national and international platforms. She tweets at @nighatdad.

Nighat Dad’s TED talk

5:18

Nighat Dad

How Pakistani women are taking the internet back

Posted May 2018

More news and ideas from Nighat Dad

Tech

How one woman in Pakistan is fighting to make the Internet a safer place for women

March 8, 2018

Lawyer and activist Nighat Dad talks about the fight to create a more accessible internet for women and other marginalized groups in her home country of Pakistan.

Live from TEDGlobal 2017

New visions for the world we know: Notes from an early morning of TED Fellows talks

August 28, 2017

In this morning’s first session of short, sharp talks from the TED Fellows, an impressive lineup of world-changers share their ideas for seeing the world in new ways — like an AI that might help us see cancer symptoms, or a fresh view on how refugees really live, or a long-term study that’s detecting a […]