Ana Elena Townsend Diez Canseco is a

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and former member of the

Peruvian Congress The Congress of the Republic of Peru () is the unicameral body that assumes legislative power in Peru. Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the Constitution of Peru, the President of Peru can be removed by Congress without cause, ...

. She is the daughter of Andrés Townsend, who was formerly the Speaker of the Peruvian Chamber of Deputies, and prominent Senator who founded the Latin American Parliament in 1964.

Professional career

Townsend was elected to Congress in 1995 as a guest member on the candidate list presented by Ambassador

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Javier Felipe Ricardo Pérez de Cuéllar de la Guerra ( , ; 19 January 1920 – 4 March 2020) was a Peruvian diplomat and politician who served as the fifth secretary-general of the United Nations from 1982 to 1991. He later served as prime min ...

. Townsend was again reelected in 2000 and in 2001. In 2001, as part of

Alejandro Toledo Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique (; born 28 March 1946) is a Peruvian former politician who served as President of Peru, from 2001 to 2006. He gained international prominence after leading the opposition against president Alberto Fujimori, w ...

´s political party she obtained the highest vote count of all elected representatives. In total, she served in the Peruvian legislature from 1995 to 2006. In 2003 President Alejandro Toledo nominated her as Minister of Women's Affairs and Social Development.

Legislative work

Her legislative work focused on

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, anticorruption, transparency, and gender issues. Further, she chaired a committee charged with investigating the corruption of

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.* * * * * * * Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's fir ...

´s Presidency. Notably, she was the author of the first ''Law of Access to Information in Peru''.

Present activities

Currently, Townsend is a member of a number of issues-based multi-national organizations. She is involved with the Advisory Council of the

Latin American Parliament The Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (''Parlatino'') is a regional, permanent organisation bringing together parliamentarians from Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a consultative assembly made up of national parliamentarians, simil ...

, which gathers 22 legislative bodies from Latin America and the Caribbean and also participates in the Advisory Council of Vital Voices for a Global Partnership in Washington DC which is a non profit organization chaired by Senator

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and

Kay Bailey Hutchison Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, diplomat, and was the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2017 until 2021. A member of the Republic ...

that promotes female involvement in global leadership. Additionally, she works as an international consultant in governance, gender, and anticorruption matters in Washington DC, USA. Anel Townsend has authored three books: ''In the Name of Law'', a compilation of her parliamentarian speeches; ''The Strengthening of Political Parties in Latin America''; and lastly, ''For a World Without Poverty and Inequality: The role of the Latin American Parliamentarians in the implementation of Millennium Development Goals''.

External links

Website for Anel Townsend (Spanish)
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Peruvian democracy activists Peruvian people of English descent Peruvian people of Spanish descent Government ministers of Peru Members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Women government ministers of Peru Women members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru Diez Canseco family {{Peru-politician-stub