Who We Work With

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Over the years, PBI has accompagnied hundreds of organisations and people. Here is a non-exhaustive list of those we helped, organised in their respective field of action.

ENVIRONMENT

  • Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). Colombia. Protection of territory and restitution of property belonging to persons of African descent, indigenous peoples and mestizos, as well as protection of the traditional use of the territory and its biodiversity.     PBI has accompanied the Commission since 1994.
  • Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center. Mexico. The organization works in six areas: migrants, environmental defense, disappearances, youth, communication, and education/training. PBI has accompanied them since February 2014.
  • Organization of Women Ecologists of the Sierra de Petatlán(OMESP). Mexico. This organization promotes productive projects and reforestation. PBI has been accompanying them since August 2005.
  • The Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development. Honduras. They work toward realizing the right to food as a link to the defense of economic, social and cultural rights. They provide legal and technical assistance to indigenous and peasant communities in their defense of territory. PBI has been accompanying them since 2014.
  • New Day’ Chortí Campesino Central Coordinator. Guatemala. This organization trains and informs rural communities on issues relating to the rural economy, the environment, and rights and land. PBI has been accompanying them since 2009.
  • Cunén Communities’ Council. Guatemala. One of its main focuses is the defense of land and natural goods. PBI began accompaniment in 2010.
  • The Association for the defense of the Granadillas Mountain (APMG). Guatemala. This organization defends the Macizo del Merendon ecosystem.
  • The Peaceful Resistance of La Laguna. Guatemala. This sit-in was initiated to express disagreement with the installation of an electricity distribution which plans to provide energy to 20 mining projects that operate around the town. We accompanied this resistance in November 2015.
  • The Communities in Peaceful Resistance of La Puya, San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc. Since 2010, residents of San Jose del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc have been undertaking actions of peaceful resistance to state their disagreement with the gold extraction project called “El Tambor.”

INDIGENOUS

  • Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). Colombia. Protection of territory and restitution of property belonging to persons of African descent, indigenous peoples and mestizos, as well as protection of the traditional use of the territory and its biodiversity.     The Commission has accompanied the nonam indigenous community since 2010 and the Bajo Naya Communities. PBI has accompanied the Commission since 1994.
  • The Social Corporation for Community Advisory and Training Services (COS-PACC). Colombia. Dedicated to denunciation, accompanying victims of human rights violations, raising international awareness, food sovereignty through promotion of agro-ecological production. Aided in the protection of the Chaparral Barronegro Indigenous Reservation when it was threatened from a French oil company. PBI has been accompanying them since 2009.
  • Mountain Human Rights Centre Tlachinollan. Mexico. They defend the rights of indigenous peoples located in Montana and Costa Chico region of Guerrerro. PBI has accompanied them for the past 12 years.
  • Services for an Alternate Education A.C. (EDUCA). Mexico. This organization encourages democracy and development in Oaxacan communities, and promotes justice, equality and social participation in order to succeed in raising the quality of life of marginalized sectors of the population in Oaxaca. They advise organizations and indigenous communities to defend their rights as citizens, promote civic education, empower indigenous authorities and push for local development projects. PBI has been accompanying them since 2013.
  • Peace Brigades International has accompanied Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, Andrea Eugenio Manuel, Cuauhtemoc Ramirez Rodriguez, Ines Ortega and Valentina Cantu members of the Organization of the Indigenous Me’Phaa People (OPIM). This organization has been committed to the defense and promotion of indigenous peoples’ rights in the Costa Chico region of Guerrero. PBI has been accompanying these people since 2005.
  • Association of Indigenous Women of Santa María Xalapán. Guatemala. They work at the local, departmental, and national levels in opposition to all forms of patriarchal, neo-liberal, racist, homophobic and lesbophobic oppression. They promote women’s rights, the revitalization of the Xinka ethnicity and the defence of land and territory. They are raising awareness about plans for mining and oil extraction in the region. PBI has been accompanying them since July 2009.
  • The K’iche Peoples Council (CPK). Guatemala. They defend and promote the collective rights of indigenous peoples, the right to life, the right to water, land and, in general, the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. PBI accompanied CPK until May 2015, when CPK began to be involved in politics. When CPK’s involvement in politics ended, their accompaniment was reinstated in November of 2015.

LAWYERS AND RIGHTS DEFENDERS

  • Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS). Colombia. Legal advice to victims of human rights violations. Documenting cases of human rights violations. PBI has accompanied CREDHOS since 1994.
  • The Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR). Colombia. Provides legal representation ad counsel to victims of human rights violations in emblematic Colombian cases both within the Colombian justice system and the Inter-American System’s human rights mechanism. They represent the family members of multiple journalists and political leaders who were murdered, as well as groups of people who were massacred. PBI has accompanied the Lawyer’s collective since 1995.
  • The Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (FCSPP). Colombia. This Committee is dedicated to providing support for person’s imprisoned for political motives, offering legal advice and representation and investigated prison conditions in Colombia. PBI has been accompanying them since 1998.
  • Corporation for Judicial Freedom (CJL). Colombia. Dedicated to the defence and promotion of human rights from a legal perspective. Focuses on legal representation of victims of human rights violations, as well as accompanies communities in their resistance processes, in defense of their lands and in search of food security. PBI has accompanied CJL since 2000.
  • The Luís Carlos Pérez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP). Colombia. Their objective is to bring the law closer to communities and grassroots groups so that it is relevant to those populations’ social, cultural, and political realities. They also seek to encourage the development of a pluralist, tolerant, and democratic society. They provide legal consultation to victims of human rights violations to the regions of the Magdalena Medio and Catatumbo. PBI has been accompanying the Lawyer’s Collective since 2006.
  • Jorge Molano is a lawyer and human right defender working in Colombia. PBI has accompanied him since 2009. His cases include extrajudicial killings, the massacre in the San Joe de Apartado Peace Community and the murder of student killed in student protests.
  • Claudia Julieta Duque is a journalist and former researcher for the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR). Colombia. She reports on issue surrounding forced disappearances, forced requirement of children by legal and illegal armed actors, the impact of impunity and the right to justice, and infiltration of paramilitary groups in government agencies. PBI has accompanied her since 2010.
  • Association for Social Research and Action Nomadesc is an organization based in Colombia that advises and accompanies social organizations and unions as well as civic, women’s, indigenous, afro-descendent, and peasant farmer organization. Their work involves socio-legal counsel, educational and investigative work, and political advocacy. PBI has accompanied Nomadesc since 2011 and its president Berenice Celeyta since 1999.
  • PBI Mexico has accompanied the three brothers of Emiliana, Alejandro and Francisco Cerezo Contreras from the Cerezo Committee since 2001. The Cerezo Committee continues to work on behalf of other political prisoners. PBI accompanied Emiliana, Alejandro and Francisco Cerezo during the liberation of their brothers.
  • The Integral Defense Committee for Human Rights ‘Gobixha’ (Codigo-DH). Mexico. This is a civil society organization that offers legal aid as well as psychological support and medical attention to victims of human rights violations. PBI supports efforts to guarantee security from the Mexican government of those defending the rights of migrants. PBI has been accompanying Codigo-DH since it’s commencement in 2011.
  • Dina Meza is a Honduran journalist and defender of the right to freedom of expression and information. We have been accompanying her since May 2014.
  • Human Rights Law Firm. Guatemala. PBI accompanies lawyer and human rights defender Edgar Pérez Archila, who works on cases surrounding massacres during the internal armed conflict and other cases concerning past and current human rights violations. We began accompanying him in August 2010.

LAND DISPOSSESSED DEFENDERS

  • Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). Colombia. Protection of territory and restitution of property belonging to persons of African descent, indigenous peoples and mestizos, as well as protection of the traditional use of the territory and its biodiversity. The Commission has accompanied and advised the nonam indigenous community since 2010. They were displaced after a paramilitary incursion in the region. With the accompaniment of the Commission, they returned home in 2011. PBI has accompanied the Commission since 1994.
  • San Jose de Apartado Peace Community. Colombia. They peacefully fight against war. After many years of forced displacement, the Community helped bring farmers back to their lands in the hills surrounding Apartado. PBI has accompanied them since 1999.
  • The Luís Carlos Pérez Lawyers’ Collective (CCALCP). Colombia. Their objective is to bring them closer to communities and grassroots groups so that it is relevant to those populations’ social, cultural, and political realities. They also seek to encourage the development of a pluralist, tolerant, and democratic society. They provide legal consultation to victims of human rights violations to the regions of the Magdalena Medio and Catatumbo. They also accompany victims of enforced disappearances and farmers collectives. PBI has been accompanying the Lawyer’s Collective since 2006.
  • The Peasant Farmer Association of the Cimitarra River Valley’s (ACVC). Colombia. The principle objectives are the comprehensive defense of human rights, the struggle for land ownership and land redistribution, and improved and dignified livelihoods for peasant farmers. They focus their work on organizational, political and educational capacity building centred on the issues of sustainable development, sustainable agriculture, education and health. The development projects are designed to guarantee food security. PBI has been accompanying ACVC since 2007.
  • Curbaradó and Jiguamiandó are communities in Colombia that have fallen victims to enforced displacement. They have faced the violent seizure of their land by palm oil companies. PBI is not currently accompanying this organization but they are following the news and information following events surrounding these communities.
  • Verapaz Union of Peasant Organisations, UVOC. Guatemala. This organization focuses on defending and enabling access to land for campesino people in the departments of Alta and Baja Verapez. PBI has accompanied UVOC since 2005.

FEMINIST AND WOMEN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

  • Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre. Mexico. They provide guidance and counselling to the community regarding their civil rights. The context of crimes against women, executions, corruption of the public security forces and a general climate of impunity was hence recognized. PBI has been accompanying this organization since 2013.
  • LGTB Rainbow Association of Honduras. Honduras. They are an organization committed to informing LGBT communities about promoting holistic health, defense and promotion of the diversity of sexuality, advocacy, research and dissemination of research. They work with lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender individuals, as well as work with heterosexuals in order to promote awareness and to reduce stigma and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.
  • Gladys Lanza, Coordinator of the Women’s Movement for Peace Visitation Padilla. Honduras. This organization questions the structural violence towards women in Honduras. Her work focuses on combating violence against women, female sexuality, discrimination in public and private life of women, labor inequalities between women and men and motherhood. PBI has accompanied her since July 2015.
  • Association of Indigenous Women of Santa María Xalapán. Guatemala. They work at the local, departmental, and national levels in opposition to all forms of patriarchal, neo-liberal, racist, homophobic and lesbophobic oppression. They promote women’s rights, the revitalization of the Xinka ethnicity and the defence of land and territory. They are raising awareness about plans for mining and oil extraction in the region. PBI has been accompanying them since July 2009.

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

  • Fray Juan de Larios Diocesan Center for Human Rights. Mexico. This centre supports the families of disappeared persons. They have also worked with the Saltillo Migrant House to help with the realization of the rights of migrants. PBI has been accompanying them since February 2014.
  • Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center. Mexico. The organization works in six areas: migrants, environmental defense, disappearances, youth, communication, and education/training. PBI has accompanied them since February 2014.
  • Tita Radilla, vice-president of the Association of Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared, and Victims of Human Rights Abuses in Mexico (AFADEM). Mexico. PBI began accompanying Tita Radilla in August 2003.

OTHER

  • The “Bartolome Carrasco Briseno” Regional Centre for Human Rights (Barca-DH) is a centre in Mexico dedicated to educating the community about the promotion and protection of human rights. PBI has accompanied them since 2010.
  • Saltillo Migrant House. Mexico. This organization provides humanitarian assistance to hundreds of transmigrants daily. It provides support to more than 800 migrants a year. PBI has been accompanying this house since February 2014.
  • Civil Monitor of Police and Security Forces of Montana, Guerrero. The goal of their work is to work toward a respect for fundamental rights in the actions of the police and army units in the state of Guerrero. They document individual reports of abuse, and works to identify good and bad practices by police and security forces. PBI has accompanied them since 2009.

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