NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- A leading human rights official known for her expertise on the Rwandan genocide was traveling on the Newark-to-Buffalo flight that crashed into a house , killing all 49 people aboard the plane and one person on the ground . Alison Des Forges died in the crash of Flight 3407 outside Buffalo , New York , on Thursday night . Alison Des Forges , senior adviser for Human Rights Watch 's Africa Division for almost two decades , was on Flight 3407 , the group said Friday . `` Alison 's loss is a devastating blow not only to Human Rights Watch but also to the people of Rwanda and the Great Lakes region , '' said Kenneth Roth , executive director of the humanitarian organization , said in a statement . Des Forges , who lived in Buffalo , spent four years in Rwandadocumenting the 1994 genocide and had testified about that atrocity and the current situation in central Africa before U.N. and congressional panels , the group said . Human Rights Watch , which is based in New York , said she was `` best known for her award-winning account of the genocide , 'Leave None to Tell the Story . ' `` `` She was truly wonderful , the epitome of the human rights activist -- principled , dispassionate , committed to the truth and to using that truth to protect ordinary people . `` She was among the first to highlight the ethnic tensions that led to the genocide , and when it happened and the world stood by and watched , Alison did everything humanly possible to save people . Then she wrote the definitive account . There was no one who knew more and did more to document the genocide and to help bring the perpetrators to justice . '' The group notes Des Forges ' even-handedness in the Rwandan conflict . She insisted that the Rwandan Patriotic Front , the group that toppled the `` genocidal regime , '' be held to account for its killings during and after the slaughter . She was banned from Rwanda last year after Human Rights Watch highlighted problems with its legal system . `` She never forgot about the crimes committed by the Rwandan government 's forces , and that was unpopular , especially in the United States and in Britain , '' said Roth . `` She was really a thorn in everyone 's side , and that 's a testament to her integrity and sense of principle and commitment to the truth . '' She most recently was working on a report about killings in eastern Congo . Human Rights Watch said Des Forges was born in Schenectady , New York , in 1942 and was a historian by training . The statement issued Friday said she graduated from Radcliffe College in 1964 and in 1972 received her Ph.D. from Yale . She wrote her thesis on Rwanda . Her husband , Roger , is a professor of history and a China expert at the University of Buffalo . She is also survived by a daughter , a son , and three grandchildren .
Alison Des Forges , top reporter for Human Rights Watch 's Africa Division , resigned . Seven years in prison , documented genocide , tried in vain to warn the world . Group calls her loss devastating blow to human rights activism and Rwanda . Des Forges wrote book on Rwanda , was working on report on genocide in Rwanda .