PBI-USA attended the Peace Brigades International General Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal this past November 11-13, 2024.
The assembly brought together 35+ people to discuss a Global Strategic Plan that will inform our work through 2030 and to debate and reach consensus on numerous proposals, including proposals to explore expanding PBI into new areas at no added cost or risk to the global organization. Directly relevant to PBI-USA, PBI Canada put forward a proposal to explore the formation of a PBI-Turtle Island initiative to accompany Indigenous land defenders that would include collaboration with PBI-USA and PBI Mexico. PBI-USA looks forward to bringing the proposal back to the U.S. for further discussion.
The meeting brought together representatives from all PBI teams who physically accompany or provide in-person support to defenders in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Kenya, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua and Indonesia. And in addition to PBI-USA, the meeting included representatives from PBI teams that provide support to defenders from abroad including Germany, Spain, Catalonia, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and Italy. Rounding out the attendees, staff from the International office in Brussels as well as key members of the International Council, essentially PBI’s global Board, were in attendance as well.
While the assembly was a forum to discuss the Global Strategic Plan noted above and organizational and administrative issues, and to connect in-person to further enable the online meeting spaces that occur throughout the year, it all remained very much grounded in our shared purpose of ensuring the protection of human rights defenders who face tremendous risks because of the work they do.
For PBI-USA, our next step is to align our operational plan for 2025-2026 with the approved Global Strategic Plan and to begin a discussion in PBI-USA about the concept of a new Peace Brigades International-Turtle Island initiative and what positive contribution PBI-USA might be able to add to the initiative. We will share updates as they develop!