[1] Aden is substitute member of the Norwegian Press Complaints Commission and has been a contributor to the newspaper Dag og Tid since January 2013.

She was illiterate, and immigrated to Norway through family reunification[2] as a thirteen-year-old in 1996, after living as a street child for seven years.

[3] She struggled at first with the meeting of another culture, child protection and other public services which she claims were unable to help her.

She has received several awards, first of them Zola-prisen (a Norwegian prize named after the French writer and intellectual Émile Zola) in 2010 for her work with immigration and integration issues.

[6] In 2013, following her participation in the Oslo Pride Parade, Amal Aden says she received 146 threatening messages.