Front Line Defenders appoints Ana Cutter Patel as U.S. Representative
Front Line Defenders has named Ana Cutter Patel as the organisation’s new U.S. Representative. Based in New York City, Ana takes up the role in October 2021.
Ana joins Front Line Defenders having worked as the Executive Director of Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding and as the Rotary International Representative to UN Women. Prior to that she was Deputy Director of the International Policymakers Program at the International Center for Transitional Justice.
The U.S. Representative is a new position for Front Line Defenders. The role is envisioned to contribute to advocacy and policy making on behalf of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in collaboration with U.S. based human rights partners and donors.
"I am excited to support, create space and advocate with the Human Rights Defenders supported by Front Line Defenders. It is an honor to join the critical work of the Front Line Defenders team, partner NGOs, and government and multilateral colleagues, in strengthening HRD protection and visibility.”
"I look forward to working with Ana and to developing this new profile for Front Line Defenders in the United States," said Andrew Anderson, Executive Director, "Ana brings creative energy and diverse experience to the role together with an avid commitment to the protection of human rights defenders."
Ana Cutter Patel Bio
Ana has 25 years of experience in international peacebuilding, gender empowerment, development and human rights to the position of U.S. Representative for Front Line Defenders. Her background spans from building a water system as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic; to teaching international peacebuilding at Columbia University; to working with governments on human rights and the demobilization of ex-combatants in Colombia and West Africa.
Ana is a Rotary International Peace Fellow, a 2016 Visionary of the Hearts on Fire Foundation, and a Global Peace Index Ambassador. She has published two co-edited volumes, Disarming the Past: Transitional Justice and Ex-combatants (January 2010), and Experiential Peacebuilding (September 2019). Ana graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and received a Master of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York. She holds a graduate Certificate in Peacebuilding from the Rotary Peace Center in Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
