Peace Brigades International (PBI) is a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

founded in 1981 which "protects

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 ...

and promotes non-violent transformation of conflicts". It primarily does this by sending international volunteers to areas of conflict, who then provide protective, non-violent accompaniment to members of human rights organizations, unions, peasant groups and others that are threatened by political violence. PBI also facilitates other peace-building initiatives within conflict countries. They are a "nonpartisan" organization that does not interfere with the affairs of those they accompany. Currently, in 2020, PBI has field projects in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

History

Inspired by the work of Shanti Sena in India, Peace Brigades International was founded in 1981 by a group of nonviolence activists, including Narayan Desai, George Willoughby, Charles Walker, Raymond Magee, Jamie Diaz and Murray Thomson. In 1983, during the

Contra war The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza family, Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The ...

, PBI sent a short-term peace team to Jalapa,

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

positioning themselves between warring factions. This project was continued and expanded by Witness for Peace. The first long term PBI project was started that same year in

(1983–1999, re-initiated in 2003), followed by

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

(1987–1992),

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(1989–1998), North America (1992–1999, in Canada and the USA),

(since 1994), the Balkans (1994–2001, joint with other organizations),

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

(1995–2000),

(since 1998),

(1999–2011, and since 2015),

(2005–2014),

(since 2013) and

(since 2013). In 1989, PBI volunteers escorted

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

winner Rigoberta Menchú on her first visit back to Guatemala from exile. Other individuals that PBI has protected include Amílcar Méndez, Nineth Montenegro and Frank LaRue in Guatemala; and Mario Calixto and Claudia Julieta Duque in Colombia. The international protective accompaniment work that PBI developed and pioneered, has inspired similar work by many other organizations, including Witness for Peace, the Christian Peacemaker Teams, the Muslim Peacemaker Teams, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Protection International, the International Peace Observers Network and the Meta Peace Team.

Organization

PBI is a team-based organization that uses consensus decision making. It is non-hierarchical in structure. There are three different aspects to the overall PBI structure, which are the Country Groups, the Field Projects, and the International Level (which consists of the PBI General Assembly, the International Council (IC), and the International Operations Council (IOC)). An international meeting is held every three years, that is attended by members from across the organization, to analyze and modify the direction of each country's program.

Volunteers

PBI attracts volunteers from diverse backgrounds for its work in the field projects. Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States — among many other countries — have all been represented among PBI's volunteer pool. Potential volunteers must be strongly committed to non-violence, and all applicants must attend in-depth training where they learn the philosophy of non-violence, non-violent strategies, and team dynamics. All volunteers must be fluent in Spanish for the Mexican, Guatemalan and Colombian projects, and all volunteers for the Nepalese program must be fluent in English and have a basic understanding of Nepali. An applicant may not be a citizen of the country they desire to work in, and must be able to make a minimum commitment of one year. Apart from getting involved in the field projects, there is also the possibility for individuals to be able to volunteer in PBI's country groups.