Peace Brigades International

Peace Brigades International (PBI) "is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts."

"Peace Brigades International (PBI), founded in 1981, is a low-overhead, non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian, non-governmental, international network of unpaid volunteers and a few paid staff. Inspired by Gandhi, PBI uses direct nonviolent action to help deter violence and expand space for human rights activism in areas of civil strife. PBI's major program areas are:
 * Protective international accompaniment.
 * Peace education.
 * Spreading information about human rights and nonviolent struggle for peace and social justice."

Winner of the 2001 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
 * Patron, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders


 * Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh - Executive Director, Peace Brigades International-USA

History
Daniel N. Clark "discussed the concept [of forming the PBI in the early 1980s] with Charles Walker, a Quaker veteran of the World Peace Brigade, which had become inactive when the U.S. civil rights movement drained away much of its resources...

"The Consultation on an International Peace Brigade held at Grindstone Island in Ontario was organized by five long-time workers in the field, Ray McGee of Peaceworkers from California, Narayan Desai of the Sarva Seva Sangh and Radhakrishna of the Gandhi Peace Foundation in India, Piet Dijkstra with the Foundation for the Extension of Nonviolent Action in the Netherlands, and Charles Walker of Pennsylvania. The conference was to be limited to around 20 people already committed to the concept of a peace brigade, and was to address the practical issues of bringing a brigade into being.

"Primarily because the expected financing for the consultation had not come through, many of those invited were not able to attend. The eleven participants included Charles Walker, Ray McGee, Narayan Desai, Jaime de J. Diaz, a Catholic priest with the Corporation for Cultural and Social Development in Colombia, Murray Thomson of Project Ploughshares in Canada, Hans Sinn, a Canadian nonviolence trainer and social defense advocate, Henry Wiseman, a Canadian serving as director of Peacekeeping Programs at the International Peace Academy in New York, Gene Keyes, a Canadian scholar and writer, Mark Shepard, a U.S. peace journalist, Lee Stern, Peace Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting of Friends, and myself.  By religious background, we were six Quakers, a Hindu, a Catholic, a Jew, a Protestant, and a universalist...

"On the final day at Grindstone, we adopted the Founding Declaration of Peace Brigades International..."

Funding
Institutional donors
 * ACCD (Agencia Catalana para Cooperación y Desarrollo); Acroplan; AECI (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional); Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienste für den Frieden (AGDF); Aktion Selbstbesteuerung; Albania Friends Meeting; Amnesty International; Amnesty International Netherlands; Anne Slade Frey Charitable Trust; Appleton Foundation; Appletree Fund; Ausschuß für entwicklungsbezogene Bildung und Publizistik; Australian Embassy, Mexico; Auswärtiges Amt; Ayuntamientos de Aguilar, Camargo, Vitoria, Santander y Valladolid; Belgian Government; Belgian Embassy, Indonesia; British Embassy, Indonesia; Broederlijk Delen Belgica; Bromley Trust; Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend; Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ); Cafod; Canadian Auto Workers (CAW); Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Cambridge Friends Meeting; CarEth Foundation; Catalan Cooperation Agency; Chace Fund of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting; Christian Aid; Church of the Epiphany, CMC; Cities of Lausanne, Plan des Ouates, De Peilz, Toureine Welt, Hinwil; Congregation of Saint Basil; DCI; Diakonia Suecia; Diakonisches Werk; Embassy of Australia (Mexico); Ecumenical group FEDEVACO; Evangelical churches of Baden, Bern-Jura-Solothurn, Bern-Paulus, Dinhard, Gais, Gsteig-Interlaken, Herrliberg, Hinwil, Langnau, Muri-Guemlingen, Muttenz, Nidau, Oetwil, Pratteln-August, Tablat, Wallisellen, Winterthur, Fribourg; Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED); Evangelische Kirche Kurhessen-Waldeck; Evangelische Landeskirche, Hannover; Fons Catala; Fons Mallorqui; Foundation Non-violence; French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Fund for Nonviolence; Gandhian Foundation; Gobierno de Cantabria; Gobierno de Navarra/Mugarik Gabe; ICCO; “I Do” Foundation; Intermon Oxfam; International Commission of Jurists; Inwent; Irish Aid; Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; Katholischer Fond Eine-Welt-Kooperation; Katholisches Bistum Hildesheim; Kerkinactie (KIA); Misereor; Metanoia Peace Community; Network for Social Change; Norddeutsche Stiftung für Umwelt & Entwicklung; Nordelbisches Missionszentrum; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Open Society Institute; Oxfam GB; Peacefund Canada; Peaceworkers USA; Polden Puckham Charitable Trust; Primate’s World Relief Development Fund; Prisoner of Conscience Appeal Fund; Project Counseling Service (PCS); Quaker Peace & Social Witness; Radley Charitable Trust; Rowan Charitable Trust; Samuel Rogers Memorial Trust; Samuel Rubin Foundation; Shoemaker Fund; Sigrid Rausing Trust; Sisters of St. Joseph, Diocese of London, Ontario; Society of Friends (Switzerland); Solidaire Solidaridad; Stiftung Umverteilen!; St. John Vianney Congregation; Swiss state; The Funding Network; Tides Foundation; Trocaire; Umweltministerium Schleswig-Holstein; Unbeschuhte Karmeliten; Valdesian Church; Vereinigte Evangelische Mission–e.V. Landeskirchen Rheinland, Westfalen und Hessen-Nassau; Yellow Springs Friends Meeting; Zentrum für Entwicklungsbezogene Bildung, Stuttgart

Individuals
 * Gina Amatangelo; Delight W. Dodyck; Michael Ebeling; Stefanie Flogel; Erika Geyger; Heike Kammer; Elisabeth Kressner; Joseph S. Levinger; Harold and Kyong Lischner; Joe Morton; Deb Sawyer; Dirk Sprenger; Diane Steingart; Herman Warsh and Maryanne Mott; Irmingard Weise; Heinke and Johannes Wendt; Jonathan Woodbridge.

Other In 1991 they received $5,000 from Rights & Democracy to: "In addition to its work organizing workshops with various popular organizations in developing countries, the Peace Brigades provides an international presence to individuals who by advocating the human rights of the marginalized, expose themselves to threat, menace and death. The International Centre granted the Brigade's request for operational assistance in Sri Lanka in response to the invitation of the Sri Lanka Bar Association to provide witnesses to lawyers." They received a further $5,000 from Rights & Democracy in 1993 to allow: "PBI is expanding its activities in Sri Lanka by opening another office in Batticoloa, an eastern region where rural land has been abandoned and military checkpoints predominate."

In 1991, Peace Brigades International (PBI) Canada received $33,000 from Rights & Democracy to work in Guatemala and El Salvador to: "support the Salvadoran and Guatemala teams in fulfilling specific needs for human rights protection, as identified by the local groups themselves, as long as they require and request the presence of PBI." In 1993 they received a further $33,000 "PBI's two teams of volunteers, one in El Salvador and one in Guatemala, respond to requests from local organizations to help protect threatened persons or groups engaged in the non-violent struggel for peace, social justice and human rights. The teams are also increasingly involved in peace education in the two countries." Country(ies):

National Coordinating Committee (2009)
Accessed July 2009:


 * Tahani Afaneh
 * Matt Messier
 * Robin Fazio
 * Alex Hildebrand
 * Angie McCarthy
 * Steve Molnar, International Council Representative
 * Amelia Parker
 * Sarah Simonson
 * Katherine Hughes-Fraitekh, Staff Representative

International Council in 2001

 * Michael Beer (Indonesia Project)
 * Giandomenico de Vita (International Finance Committee)
 * Joke Edenburg (PBI Germany/Netherlands/Switzerland)
 * Rachel Heckscher (PBI USA)
 * Lin Padgham (PBI Australia)
 * Hans Sinn (PBI Canada)
 * Jurgen Stork (Haiti Project)

International Council in 2004/05

 * Liza Mahrijhrin (Treasurer) resigned April 2005
 * Liam Mahony (Treasurer) Appointedoint July 2005
 * Lin Padgham (Secretary)
 * Laura Clarke Appointed January 2004
 * Andrew Kendle Appointed July 2005
 * Steve Molnar (President) Appointed August 2005
 * Eleanor Openshaw Resigned June 2005
 * Roger Nash Appointed August 2005
 * Joke Edenburg (President) Resigned January 2005
 * Hans Sinn Resigned March 2005
 * Montse Garcia Appointedinted July 2005
 * Celia Guilford Appointed August 2005
 * Sergi Bach Appointed September 2005
 * Christine Jones Appointed September 2005

PBI International Council 2005/06

 * Sergi Bach (Mexico Project)
 * Laura Clarke (Colombia Project –resigned December 2005)
 * Joke Edenburg (PBI Germany, Netherlands from Oct 2006)
 * William Fairbairn (PBI Canada from July 2006)
 * Montserrat Garcia (Guatemala Project)
 * Celia Guilford (Indonesia Project)
 * Andrew Kendle (PBI UK, Sweden, Norway)
 * Christine Jones (PBI Canada, May–November 2005)
 * Steve Molnar (PBI USA) - President
 * Liam Mahony
 * Claudia Muller-Hoff (Colombia Project from February 2006)
 * Roger Nash
 * Eleanor Openshaw (PBI UK, Sweden, Norway–resigned July 2005)

===PBI International Council 2007 ===


 * Sergi Bach Mexico Project
 * Paola Carmagnani Nepal Project
 * Tiffany Easthom Indonesia Project
 * Joke Edenburg Netherlands/Germany
 * Steven Davies At large member
 * William Fairbairn Canada
 * Montserrat Garcia Guatemala Project
 * Celia Guilford Indonesia Project
 * Andrew Kendle (Vice-President) UK/Norway/Sweden
 * Liam Mahony (Treasurer) At large member
 * Rohan Martyrs Australia
 * Steven Molnar (President) USA
 * Claudia Muller-Hoff Colombia Project
 * Roger Nash At large member

Contact
International Office Development House 56-64 Leonard Street London EC2A 4LT U.K. Tel: +44 20 7065 0775 Web: http://www.peacebrigades.org

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * War Resisters' International