Peace Brigades International provides protective accompaniment to various groups and individuals through our six field projects, currently in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua/Costa Rica, and Kenya. PBI also provides support to projects in Nepal (through NepalMonitor.org) and Indonesia, in partnership with ELSAM (Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy).
Protective accompaniment is a nonviolent intervention in conflict zones pioneered by PBI. Teams of trained field volunteers, backed by an international support network, physically accompany human rights defenders and communities who receive threats of political violence. Our independent, non-partisan stance helps PBI earn the trust of local grassroots activists, and deters violence because of abusers awareness of international exposure and possible consequences.
We only act on the request of local non-violent organizations working for human rights and development of civil society, such as indigenous communities, environmental organizations, lawyers, women’s organizations, trade unions and relatives of the disappeared.
Protective accompaniment has helped to protect the lives of hundreds of activists, many of whom have faced death threats and all of whom have faced severe harassment from military, paramilitary or other violent groups.
See the organizations and individuals we accompany in the various field project pages under the “Who We Accompany” tab, as well as the separate websites for those field projects: