Peace Brigades International shares Annual Review 2023
Photo: Our just-released Annual Review opens with a quote from Indigenous Maya Poqomchi’ rights defender Sandra Calel (on the left) of the PBI-Guatemala accompanied Verapaz Union of Campesina Organizations (UVOC).
Peace Brigades International has released its Annual Review 2023.
It notes: “Peace Brigades International (PBI) protects and empowers human rights and environmental defenders so that they can make changes in their communities and for our planet. We contribute to a robust civil society by building and sharing the tools, tactics, and networks necessary to prevent threats, reduce risk, and influence decision-makers.”
PBI is present in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Kenya, Indonesia, Nepal and Nicaragua (Costa Rica), as well as Canada, Spain and Catalunya, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland.
Our staff and volunteers come from many more countries.
Among those PBI supports are land, environmental, and Indigenous rights defenders. The Annual Review highlights: “Land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders fight to defend their territories from activities such as mining, deforestation, industrial agriculture, and other forms of exploitation that threaten their livelihoods, cultures, and environments.”
One of the key forms of our work is physical accompaniment. The Annual Review explains: “A strategy pioneered by PBI. Our front-line teams embody the international human rights cause. They are physically present, accompany defenders in high[1]risk situations and deter potential perpetrators of violence.”
PBI also helped to raise awareness.
With respect to numbers: “In 2023 we supported 3,493 human rights defenders, 68 organizations, and 950 communities globally.”
Within that, we accompanied 1,327 land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders.” The Annual Review further highlights that: “Land, Indigenous and environmental defenders play an important role in providing a future where the rights of the earth are protected. Their courageous work has been met with high levels of violence. Approximately 30% of all attacks on defenders are linked to extractive industries.”
Profiling the advocacy tour with Mariana Azucena Villarreal Fría of the Network in Defence of Indigenous Territory in the Sierra Tarahumara (REDETI) organized by PBI-Mexico, PBI-USA and PBI-Canada, the Annual Review notes: “PBI in Canada also accompanied Mariana to meet with the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE), the federal government minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and officials from Global Affairs Canada (GAC).”
Manuel Jabonero Prieto (PBI-Mexico) and Mariana (REDETI) also joined PBI-Canada Board members Ed Bianchi and Meera Karunananthan along with coordinator Brent Patterson for dinner when they were in Ottawa.
To read Annual Review 2023, click here.
0 Comments