Volunteering at PBI UK: human rights experience while supporting those on the frontlines
Jana Hechler currently volunteers for Peace Brigades International (PBI) UK. Here, she writes about how she got involved, why, and what she gets out of the experience.
I came to London in 2019 to study for a Master of Laws degree in international dispute resolution, having already finished two law degrees, one with a focus on public international law. I had taken human rights focused classes before, and was interested to learn more. I was curious about working in the field of human rights, which was a new interest to me, given that German legal studies do not really cover human rights at all. Thankfully, my professor for the module ‘Human Rights in Wartime’ did a fantastic job at teaching the subject, which led to a very interesting conversation about working in human rights. She told me – and I can verify this statement based on me and my friends’ own experiences – that it is a hard field to break into, but that the best way to start is by volunteering for an organisation which works on projects that you care about. Luckily, this professor was friends with the former Director of Peace Brigades International (PBI) UK and offered make an introduction.
Back home, I started researching the organisation and became more and more intrigued. The main focus of PBI is protecting and supporting ‘human rights defenders’. These are people who – as the name indicates – defend human rights and do so in countries where they are particularly at risk because of it. They are threatened, wrongfully arrested, abducted and even killed. One of the things PBI does, and that I appreciate the most, is defend these defenders. To me, this is the most respectful approach to human rights issues in countries often far away from the United Kingdom. Instead of trying to fight their battles for them, PBI supports grassroots organisations and individuals in speaking out and arguing for their rights. This is - amongst other means of support - done by what is known as ‘protective accompaniment’. Volunteers travel to the countries in which defenders are campaigning for human rights, and accompany them in their daily lives. By showing international attention and solidarity they deter the violence and persecution that defenders otherwise suffer on a regular basis.
Once in touch, I met with PBI UK’s former Director to discuss how I might be of help. And that’s how my time with PBI began! Mostly, I would be given tasks which had a legal background because everyone made an effort to ensure that volunteers were given tasks they would find interesting. It also made sense for PBI, dare I say, because of my legal background. These tasks included writing content for a toolkit on human rights which was later published by a large law firm and shared with grassroots activists. Often, I was asked to read texts and research in the press, before summarising the most important points, which allowed me to learn more about a lot of topics of interest; be it the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, texts on women’s issues in different contexts, or interviews with foreign grassroots defenders and indigenous leaders. Through all of these tasks I also learned a lot about what work at a small non-governmental organisation (NGO) looks like. Additionally, I gained a whole range of insights into the lives of human rights defenders and their work around the world. As someone interested in human rights work, this perspective is invaluable, and I can only encourage others to do what I did – volunteer.
Be it to gain first-hand experience in the field, or to build on already existing knowledge, the range of things one can do to support an important organisation such as PBI is wide, and I have found that there are tasks covering a lot of different interests.
I have since returned to my home country to complete my legal education. However, despite my free time dramatically decreasing, I continue to volunteer for PBI UK – not only for personal satisfaction and enjoyment of the variety of tasks set, but because I believe in what PBI UK does, and I want to contribute.
