Peace Brigades International-USA

Peace Brigades International (PBI) is an international non-profit organization, inspired by non-violent philosophies such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. PBI has been promoting nonviolent activism and defending human rights since 1981. We envision a world in which people address conflicts nonviolently, where human rights are universally upheld, and social justice and intercultural respect have become a reality. We believe that lasting solutions to conflict cannot be imposed from the outside, but must be based on the capacity and desires of local people.

PBI operates independently and in a non-partisan manner, sending teams of highly-qualified field volunteers to accompany human rights defenders and communities and to document conflict. Protective accompaniment is a technique pioneered by PBI for protecting human rights defenders. With this strategy, we have protected the lives of hundreds of threatened activists, many of whom have faced death threats and all of whom have faced severe harassment from military, paramilitary or other violent groups due to the nature of their work. Groups we accompany include indigenous communities, environmental organizations, lawyers, women’s organizations, trade unions and relatives of the disappeared.

PBI currently operates field projects in Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, and Nepal. PBI-USA is one of 16 country groups which focus on supporting the field projects through volunteer recruitment, fundraising, political support networks, domestic peace and nonviolent education and outreach activities.