Protective accompaniment has three simultaneous and mutually reinforcing effects. The presence of international volunteers protects threatened HRDs by raising the stakes for potential attackers. It provides moral support and international solidarity for civil society activism by protecting the political space of threatened organisations, thereby giving them the confidence to carry out their work. In addition, it strengthens the international movement for peace and human rights by giving accompaniment volunteers with a powerful first-hand experience that becomes a sustained source of inspiration to themselves and others upon their return to their home countries.

The accompaniment volunteer is the embodiment of international human rights concern, a compelling and visible reminder to those using violence that their actions will have repercussions nationally and internationally. When the level of threat is high, accompaniment is sometimes round the clock. In other situations volunteers stay with threatened communities or remain in the offices of organisations, and accompany threatened activists when they travel. Another form of accompaniment is regular phone calls to organisations to check on their safety.

The premise of accompaniment is that there will be an international response to whatever violence or potential violence the volunteer witnesses. Behind such a response lies the implied threat of diplomatic and economic pressure—pressure that the sponsors of such violence prefer to avoid.

Victims of human rights abuses are frequently those attempting to organise for social justice, nonviolence and respect for human rights, thus challenging the interests of powerful elites. An international presence can be a source of hope. It assures HRDs that they are not alone, that their work is important and that their suffering will not go unnoticed by the outside world. Thus the volunteer’s presence not only protects, but also provides moral support for the growth of civil society activism in repressive situations.

Strengthening the international peace and human rights movement

Every accompaniment volunteer returns home inspired by the privilege of having been able to contribute to protecting and providing moral support for the work of the HRDs and communities they have accompanied.

Accompaniment has three primary impacts:

• Protection of threatened human rights defenders and organisations
• Moral support for individuals and civil society movements
• Contributing to the building of a global movement for peace and human rights.

Protection: deterring attacks against civil society

International accompaniment can succeed in deterring attacks because the decision makers behind these attacks do not want a bad image internationally. They do not want the world to know what they are doing. They do not want to be made to feel uncomfortable by diplomats discussing human rights problems in their meetings. They don’t want to read in the international press that they are being called to account for human rights abuses. Accompaniment increases the perceived political costs of ordering an attack in front of international witnesses—witnesses whose organisation is committed to making such attacks as costly as possible for those responsible.