Cristina Finch is an internationally recognized human rights lawyer leading and working with organizations that make a difference. Finch is the Head of the Gender and Security Division at DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance, and previously served as the Head of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department at the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) where she focused on prevention and response of hate crime and discrimination. 

Before joining the ODIHR, Finch was the Managing Director of the Identity and Discrimination Program at Amnesty International USA, where she led the organization’s efforts to advance women’s and LGBT human rights, economic, social and cultural rights, and to support human rights defenders. Her experience also includes serving as Senior Counsel to the Human Rights Campaign, helping to pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crime Prevention Act.

Finch has served as legal counsel to the Congresses of both the United States and the Republic of Palau. She is a former adjunct law professor at George Mason University School of Law and has provided expert testimony on legal and policy issues before the UN Human Rights Council, U.S. Congress, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the World Bank. She is also a frequent media commentator on human rights and foreign policy issues.