PBI history
INTERNATIONAL
HORIZONTAL
On 12 January 1981 a letter signed by Narayan Desai (Shanti Sena Mandal), Raymond Magee (Peaceworkers), Piet Dijkstra (Foundation for the Extension of Nonviolent Action), Radhakrishana (Gandhi Peace Foundation) and George Willoughby was sent out to a number of organisations. It invited them to attend a conference to revive the idea of an international organisation committed to unarmed third party intervention in conflict situations.
This led to a meeting that took place on Grindstone Island in Canada, where the participants discussed the experiences of the many previous nonviolent actions and the role international peace brigades could play in conflicts.
Having taken a decision to set up a new organisation, the meeting discussed the practicalities such as networking, training, project development, fundraising, and the location of a secretariat.
The name agreed upon for the new organisation was PEACE BRIGADES INTERNATIONAL.
‘We are forming an organisation with the capacity to mobilise and provide trained volunteers in areas of high tension, to avert violent outbreaks. Peace brigades, fashioned to respond to specific needs and appeals, will undertake nonpartisan missions, which may include peacemaking initiatives, peacekeeping under a discipline of nonviolence, and humanitarian service. …We are building on a rich and extensive heritage of nonviolent action. We are convinced that this commitment of mind, heart, and dedicated will can make a significant difference in human affairs’
NONVIOLENT
INDEPENDENT
Field work began in Nicaragua in 1983, when 10 PBI volunteers interposed themselves between US-backed Contras and the Sandinista forces in order to deter hostilities.
Later the same year, a PBI team was installed in Guatemala, focusing on protecting victims and nascent nonviolent organisations in the context of the intense state terror and repression of the Guatemalan civil war.
The protection strategy developed in the Guatemala project, consisting of the constant visible presence of foreign volunteers backed up by an international emergency response network, proved so successful that PBI began to receive many more requests for protective accompaniment from around the world.
Over the following decades, we have applied this strategy of protective accompaniment in situations of conflict and human rights abuse in El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Indonesia, Nepal, Kenya and Honduras. We have also been involved in peace initiatives that focus on supporting dialogue and reconciliation. These include a project responding to conflicts in and around Native American communities in the 1990s and participation in the Balkan Peace Team Coalition.
PBI focuses on ensuring its strategies are constantly adapted to local situations, and we open and close projects in response to changing community needs and political realities. PBI currently has field teams in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras and Kenya, and offers capacity-building support to human rights defenders in Indonesia and Nepal.
PBI UK
When PBI first started in 1981 there were no country groups – only an International Office. As PBI field projects expanded throughout the 1980s, ex-PBI volunteers began setting up country groups that could further the work of PBI. In 1988, returning British volunteer, Bué Alred, took up the challenge of developing PBI UK. A meeting of the European country groups was called to which an open invitation was put out for anyone in the UK interested in the work of PBI to attend. Apart from Bué, three turned up.
From humble beginnings, the initial four built the organization from their homes around the country. PBI UK set up their first office in Bradford in 1989, and held their first volunteer training in 1990. In 1997, Susi Bascon took on the role of PBI UK Director.
PBI UK has sent almost 100 volunteers to field projects around the world.
History and commendations
Previous projects:
1983 - 1999: First Guatemala project
1987 - 1992: El Salvador project
1989 - 1998: Sri Lanka project
1992 - 1999: North America project
1994 - 2001: Participation in the Balkan Peace Team
1995 - 2001: Haiti project
1999 - 2011: First Indonesia project
2005 - 2014: Initial Nepal project
Current Projects:
1994: Colombia project established
1996: PBI joins SIPAZ coalition, Mexico
1998: Mexico project established
2002: Guatemala project reopened
2013: Nepal Monitor project established
2013: Kenya project established
2013: Honduras project established
2014: Indonesia project reopened
1989: Memorial Per la Pau "Josep Vidal I Llecha"
1995: Memorial de la Paz y la Soledaridad Entre los Pueblos
1996: Pfeffer International Peace Prize
1999: Aachener International Peace Prize, and the Medalla Comemorativa de la Paz by the Rigoberta Menchú Túm Foundation
2001: Martin Ennals Prize for Human Rights Defenders, and is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
2011: Jaime Brunet Prize for the promotion of human rights
2016: International Catalan Institute for Peace’s Peace Builders Award
2020: Guernica Prize for Peace and Reconciliation 2020