In 2018, 441 volunteers provided support to 13 PBI country groups, including PBI-USA, 7 projects and our International Office located in Brussels. 84 international volunteers provided protection to 1334 threatened human rights defenders in countries where PBI has a presence. Click the link below to read about the work of PBI as well as the brave human rights defenders we accompany in our 2018 annual report.
On April 16th, the U.N. Security Council warned that “the Colombian peace process stands today at a critical juncture.” In his remarks before the Security Council, U.S.
March 19, 2019
In the first four months of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term, which began on December 1, 2018, at least seventeen human rights defenders and journalists were murdered, an increase over last year’s rate. If killings continue at this rate, fifty-two defenders and journalists will be dead by the end of 2019.
Attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and others exercising their right to free speech in Honduras have increased in the first months of 2019. Below are some selected incidents illustrating a trend toward a continued closing of space for dissent.
April 11, 2019
April 5, 2019
“Our lives are confined, we cannot leave, the illegal armed actors are disputing our lands, and those who speak out or try to speak out become military objectives.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office after campaigning on a platform focused heavily on combating corruption and insecurity and bringing peace and reconciliation to the Mexican people.
A new report from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA and PBI) focuses on how the new government can approach an important aspect of this endeavor: creating a safer and more enabling environment for journalists and human rights defenders to carry out their important work.
March 4, 2019
The following is a joint press release of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and Union for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), released in Spanish and translated into English by PBI-USA.