Diane Ala'i is an independent human rights and international affairs expert who was a Representative to the United Nations for the Bahá'í International Community, United Nations Office in Geneva, for over 30 years. In this respect, she has participated in numerous sessions of UN organs, e.g. the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council (and its predecessor, the former Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission), the Commission on the Status of Women, Treaty Monitoring Bodies, and the UNHCR ExCom. Previously a member of the Bahá'í International Community delegation to the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna (1993), she served as Head of delegation for the Bahá'í International Community at the Third World Conference Against Racism in Durban (2001). Moreover, she also chaired the Geneva NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief for many years. 

Ms. Ala’i has been an invited speaker at numerous events related to freedom of religion or belief, incitement to hatred and/or minorities’ rights and contributed a number of articles to publications focusing on those subjects. 

She is a member of the Council of Experts of the Article 18 Alliance (IRFBA) and is presently living in Kuwait and focusing on coexistence in the Middle East.