Our work
PBI field volunteers in Honduras
PBI is a leading NGO working to protect human rights defenders at risk.
We provide life-saving support to community leaders and other human rights defenders in some of the most dangerous countries in the world. We have eight field projects, which are established upon the request of defenders after an assessment of their technical and support needs. They are based in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Kenya, Indonesia and Nepal.
Each day human rights defenders speak out for the rights of others. Each day they risk their livelihoods, their liberty and, in many cases, their lives.
Attacks, abductions, and assassinations are on the increase; more than 300 defenders were murdered for their peaceful human rights work in 2020.
Who are human rights defenders?
Human rights defenders can be anyone working towards a fairer society or fighting for basic rights.
They are usually on the front line of struggles to expose, report, monitor and denounce human rights violations. They uphold the rule of law, defend freedom of expression, combat sexual violence and stand up to exploitative corporations. This can steer governments in the right direction as they hold them to acocunt.
They are effective because they are trusted by their communities, and understand the needs of local people who are often the most vulnerable. They are respected and act as they are agents of sustainable change in their communities.
Kenyan human rights defender Faith Kisana
Rule of law defenders
Women and LGBTQI+ defenders
Environmental defenders
PBI UK Director Susi Bascon with PBI field volunteers and Mexican human rights lawyer Maricela Vazquez
PBI defends the defenders.
On the ground, we provide direct protection and support, to keep defenders alive and help their work thrive. Our international observers accompany at-risk defenders, standing shoulder to shoulder with them in a display of solidarity that deters violent attacks.
Uniquely, we also provide longer-term preventative support aimed at building the resilience of human rights defenders - from security monitoring and psychological assistance to diplomatic actions and self-protection training. This has begun to take the form of digital capacity building projects.
Recently we have begun to focus more on raising the visibility of defenders, which many governments try to obscure. Making the global community aware of human rights violations is the first step to preventing them.
Mama Rahma and Samuel Kiriri with the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk as part of their speaker tour in December 2019
Galvanising the international community
We also provide protection through our advocacy work at all levels - from the soldier at a local checkpoint to the leaders of the UN. Our activities help create the right security, policy and political environments for defenders to carry out their work without fear of intimidation. This takes the form of specialised risk assessment procedures that are tailored to each advocacy project. We believe that through non-partisan solidarity we can uphold international human rights standards and achieve long-lasting change.
At a global level, we build expert and political networks that can be mobilised at short notice to provide much-needed support. As a preventative approach, we provide defenders with a platform to amplify their voices, ensuring that their calls for rights and freedoms are heard by those who can make a difference. We engage our pro bono networks to build the capacity of human rights defenders to equip them with the legal skills they need.
Our crucial political support building contributes to protecting and raising the visibility, credibility and legitimacy of human rights defenders at local, national and international levels. We are also involved in outreach, fundraising and recruiting and training of volunteers.
The rule of law
Over the years, we have focused our attention on issues surrounding the rule of law in countries where it is under threat.
In the UK, lawyers are able to rely on the rule of law to promote human rights. In the countries where we work, human rights defenders must take it on themselves to fight for basic legal principles and environmental standards, where civic space is shrinking.
Our job is to ensure they can do this without being threatened by agents of the state or multinational corporations. They should be able to assert their rights and those of their fellow citizens in peace.
PBI and the Alliance for Lawyers at risk have supported initiatives in countries across Latin America, Africa and Asia where being a lawyer means daily attacks, threats and intimidation.
Around one in three of the human rights defenders PBI works with are lawyers, and many more provide legal advice and paralegal support alongside other work. Over the past year, PBI has been working with its network of pro bono lawyers to identify the barriers to the work of human rights defenders working to protect the rule of law, and how to best strengthen their capacities so they can overcome them.
Mexican migrant rights lawyer Marisol Esperanza Cerecero