Magnitsky Awards
Winner’s Bio

Vanessa Tsehaye is an Eritrean-Swedish human rights lawyer and filmmaker. She is the executive director of One Day Seyoum (ODS), a leading human rights organisation focused on Eritrea and Eritrean refugees. She served as Amnesty International’s Horn of Africa campaigner between 2020-2023 where she led the organisation’s campaigns work on issues such as the Tigray war, the Sudan war and the Eritrean human rights crisis. Her work in media spans between text, TV and film.  She is currently directing her documentary feature debut that has been supported by the Sundance Film Institute. She previously worked as an assistant producer on Al Jazeera’s Listening Post, the TV channel’s flagship media review show, and her writing has appeared in CNN, Al Jazeera English, Mail & Guardian and Buzzfeed News amongst other publications. She holds a law degree from SOAS, University of London.