Peace Brigades International (PBI)

The organization worked in several conflict areas including Nicaragua in 1983 and Guatemala from 1983 to 1999. While working in Guatemala in 1985, the organization developed “international protective accompaniment,” which was used to shield leaders and activists of the Mutual Support Group for Families of the Disappeared (GAM), some of whose leaders had been assassinated by the state. ¹ The organization, as of August 2024, maintained a “permanent presence” in Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Indonesia, Nepal, and Nicaragua ² and is one of the 12 NGOs that make up the consortium of Protect Defenders EU, the European Union Human Rights Defenders mechanism. ³

Fathi Zabaar is the president of the international council at PBI. He has worked as a program officer, and later a country director at Freedom House. He was also a consultant at the International Bar Association, and a program director at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. ⁴

Background

Peace Brigades International was founded in 1981 after an invitation was sent to various organizations to attend a conference based on creating an international group that focused on unarmed intervention in violent conflicts. ¹

PBI states that its projects focus on providing a physical presence of volunteers alongside human rights organizations and individuals, creating a dialogue with governments and armed forces, and raising the profile of organizations it assists. The organization, as of August 2024, maintained a “permanent presence” in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, Indonesia, Nepal, and Nicaragua. ²

Projects

Peace Brigades International has been involved in several conflicts. The organization’s first project was in Nicaragua in 1983, during an ongoing revolution in the country, when ten PBI volunteers interposed themselves between counterrevolutionary forces (Contras) and the Sandinistas. ¹

PBI continued its nonviolent interference in Guatemala from 1983 until 1999. The organization developed “international protective accompaniment” in 1985, which was used to shield leaders and activists of the Mutual Support Group for Families of the Disappeared (GAM), some of whose leaders had been assassinated by the state. PBI provided “round-the-clock nonviolent escorts” which resulted in no GAM leader being killed after PBI began accompanying them. ¹

Although the main purpose of PBI was to provide protective accompaniment to organizations and individuals in conflict zones, the organization also began working in North America in 1992 when it opened a project that focused on responding to conflicts regarding Native American communities. This project continued until 1999. ¹

PBI continued to open projects in several countries across the world including Colombia in 1994, Haiti in 1992, Mexico in 1998, Nepal in 2005, and Kenya in 2013. It began working to assist Nicaraguan organizations exiled to Costa Rica in 2020. ¹

Affiliated Organizations

Peace Brigades International is one of the 12 NGOs that make up the consortium of Protect Defenders EU, the European Union Human Rights Defenders mechanism. ³

Excluding PBI, the other members of the Protect Defenders EU consortium are Frontline Defenders, a nonprofit organization that works to protect and aid “human rights defenders at risk (HRDs),” a United Nations term for peace workers and activists who help refugees; Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based advocacy group supporting government transparency and journalistic freedom worldwide, documenting and reporting information, and lobbying various organizations such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe; and the International Federation for Human Rights, an international non-governmental organization that advocates supporting human rights laws that pertain to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 to uphold all “civil, political, economic, social and cultural” rights. ^{3 5 6 7 8}

Other members of Protect Defenders EU include ESCR-Net (International Network for Economic Social and Cultural Rights), a New York City-based nonprofit that works on economic, social, and cultural issues; the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, a left-of-center LGBT advocacy organization created in 1978 with an initial focus on decriminalizing homosexuality; Urgent Action Fund for Feminist Activism, an advocacy organization based in California that claims to be a support group for “women, trans and nonbinary” left-of-center activists; Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders, a left-of-center grantmaking foundation that was established as a Danish foundation in 2004 by EuroMed Rights. ^{3 9 10 11}

The other members of the consortium are human rights organizations including the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Protection International, DefendDefenders, and the World Organisation Against Torture. ³

Financials

Peace Brigades International receives most of its revenue from contributions, gifts, and grants. The organization’s total revenue amounted to around $2.34 million in 2022, $2.32 million of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants. The organization’s total expenses amounted to approximately $2.55 million in the same year, of which around $866,069 was spent on salaries and wages, while approximately $275,152 was spent on executive compensation. PBI’s net assets amounted to $930,185. ¹²

According to the organization’s tax return, PBI received a total of approximately $1 million in government grants and contributions in 2022. It is also listed in its 2022 tax return that PBI granted just under $100,000 in total to foreign organizations, governments, or individuals. ¹³

People

Fathi Zabaar is the president of the international council at Peace Brigades International. He obtained a law degree in 2001 before earning a master’s degree in “conflict transformation” from Eastern Mennonite University. ^{14 15}

Zabaar began working as a program officer at Freedom House in February 2006 until June 2007. Freedom House is a United States-based non-governmental organization that focuses on research and analysis of political rights and civil liberties in countries around the world. The organization has been criticized for its bias in its reporting and analysis, has been called “opaque,” and charged with channeling a “radical libertarian ideology” in some of its reporting. Zabaar returned to work at Freedom House as a country director from November 2011 until December 2012. ^{4 16 17}

Zabaar was a consultant at the International Bar Association from March 2014 until May 2016. The International Bar Association is an organization of law firms, legal practitioners, and other bar associations from around the world. The organization is made up of roughly 80,000 individual lawyers, 190 bar associations, and legal groups from over 170 countries. ^{4 18 19}

Zabaar became a program director at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) in March 2017 until April 2018. ICSC is a global organization that oversees and maintains a network of “sites of conscience” or places of memory such as memorials, historic sites, and museums. ^{4 20}