PBI gathers for a face-to-face planning meeting in Charleroi, Belgium

Staff and volunteers from five Peace Brigades International field projects (Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Indonesia), eleven country groups (including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain) and the international secretariat met last week in Charleroi, Belgium to coordinate our ongoing work in defence of human rights.

In 2018, PBI provided accompaniment to over 1,000 human rights defenders so that they could continue and expand their vital work.

A PBI chart notes that 55% of those human rights defenders work on issues related to civil and political rights, 21% on land and environmental rights, 17% on economic, social and cultural rights, and 7% on gender and sexual rights.

Last year, PBI also helped to amplify the voices of human rights defenders and provided a platform for their stories to be told and profiles to be raised through 316 bulletins, reports, videos, radio and online tools.

And international advocacy missions enabled 36 human rights defenders to raise international awareness of and support for their work in Europe and North America.

PBI-Canada has prioritized finding volunteers to accompany human rights defenders in the field, writing about the groups PBI accompanies through regular articles on our website and social media channels, and organizing speaking tours, including one later this year.

The three-day meeting in Belgium helped to both integrate and advance that work with PBI entities around the world.

To read more about the work of PBI, please see our 2018 annual review.