PBI is an international NGO that has promoted nonviolence and protected human rights defenders since 1981.

PBI provides protection, support and recognition to local human rights defenders who work in areas of repression and conflict and have requested our support.  We help human rights defenders make links with others and raise awareness of the issues they face.

We always work at the request of defenders and in response to their needs.  We avoid imposing, interfering or getting directly involved in the work of the people we accompany. We don’t provide financial support or development aid to the organisations we work with.  Our work is effective because we take an integrated approach, combining a presence on the ground alongside human rights defenders with an extensive network of international support.

Our signature model of work is Protective Accompaniment (PA) where we send teams of highly trained international volunteers to countries where community representatives and HRDs suffer repression while carrying out their legitimate, nonviolent, human rights work.  These volunteers provide physical accompaniment to human rights defenders at risk to deter attacks from being carried out against them.

We also explore other nonviolent methods of protection depending on the context we are working in and the needs and desires of local community representatives and human rights defenders.

Our Mission

Making space for peace.

We believe that lasting transformation of conflicts cannot be imposed from the outside, but must be based upon the capacity and desires of local people. Our role is to provide moral support for local community representatives to carry out their work without fear of repression.

PBI Ireland

PBI Ireland was founded in May 2014 at a public meeting in Dublin.  We are the most recently formed country group out of 13 active groups who are based in Europe, the Americas and Australia.

PBI Ireland is part of a community of Country Groups around the world who are responsible for carrying out vital support work that allows the field programmes to operate smoothly. The work of the Country Groups is integral to the effectiveness of our protection of human rights defenders in the field.

We are responsible for among other things:

• Recruiting and supporting volunteers for PBI field projects.

• Raising awareness and building support amongst government representatives and international NGOs working in Ireland.

• Hosting visiting HRDs and WHRDs during advocacy speaking tours and providing a platform for them to highlight the issues they are working on.

• Fundraising for field projects and for local activities.

• Promoting nonviolence and peace education.

PBI Ireland Financial Documents 2016: View here.

PBI Ireland Financial Documents 2017: View here.

PBI Ireland Financial Documents 2018: View here.

PBI Ireland Financial Documents 2019: View here.

PBI Ireland Financial Documents 2020: View here.