Peace Brigades International

It primarily does this by sending international volunteers to areas of conflict, who then provide protective, non-violent accompaniment to members of human rights organizations, unions, peasant groups and others that are threatened by political violence.

Inspired by the work of Shanti Sena in India, Peace Brigades International was founded in 1981 by a group of nonviolence activists, including Narayan Desai, George Willoughby, Charles Walker, Raymond Magee, Jamie Diaz and Murray Thomson.

The first long term PBI project was started that same year in Guatemala (1983–1999, re-initiated in 2003), followed by El Salvador (1987–1992), Sri Lanka (1989–1998), North America (1992–1999, in Canada and the USA), Colombia (since 1994), the Balkans (1994–2001, joint with other organizations), Haiti (1995–2000), Mexico (since 1998), Indonesia (1999–2011, and since 2015), Nepal (2005–2014), Kenya (since 2013) and Honduras (since 2013).

Other individuals that PBI has protected include Amílcar Méndez, Nineth Montenegro and Frank LaRue in Guatemala;[3] and Mario Calixto and Claudia Julieta Duque in Colombia.

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States — among many other countries — have all been represented among PBI's volunteer pool.