I have been with PBI in different roles since 1996. It’s a lifelong activism in my case

Montse Garcia
Guatemala, 1997-1998

It is essential to defend those who defend.  PBI transformed my life; I totally changed my professional orientation.

Paco Simón Conejos
Colombia and Honduras, 2001, 2014, 2016, 2018

I believe that a key function of PBI - apart from direct protection - is to help volunteers understand, perceive and feel the injustice experienced by people in the global south. If we then go to the countries of the global north we can use this experience to demand, promote, initiate changes in politics and also in daily life by demonstrating the connections between realities

Michael Kettelhoit
Colombia

I believe that PBI’s work is very important in the process of opening spaces and creating safe conditions for human rights defenders to continue their legitimate work. Every time we realize that we have contributed one more brick in the construction of justice and the defense of human rights, I think that PBI’s work is worthwhile.

Giusy
Mexico 2017-ahora

As long as human rights defenders are valuing international accompaniment as a tool that gives them protection, security and moral support to continue their struggles, PBI’s work (and other signs of international solidarity) must continue.

Silvia Weber
Guatemala, 2008-ahora

PBI has changed the way I understand the world of development, it has impacted me on a personal level in several ways: in the way I express myself, in the way I approach people and in the way I understand the best ways to provide support

Verónica Fernández Parro
Honduras, 2018-2021

PBI’s work is important because it helps to make visible the work of people who struggle to exercise their human rights in a neutral and peaceful way. It has helped me to continue doing something for Latin America from the place I emigrated to a few years ago

Scarlett Menéndez
Mexico, 2018-2020

The first right of human rights is to be respected and to be able to say and act nonviolently when they are not respected. I have a deep admiration for people who put their lives on the line to advance a recognized and deserved social cause

Caroline Tessier
Guatemala, 2008-2014

Without respect for human rights, we have nothing - we have no voice, no power, no possibilities. That’s why I think PBI’s work is very important.

Vera Top
Guatemala, 1998-1999
Mexico, 2001

For me, the 13 months with PBI Guatemala have had a huge impact. I have learned a lot in almost all professional and life aspects. I have been able to do something that I found really useful and fulfilling and I have met friends that even 10 years later remain close.

Kathrin Rüegg
Guatemala, 2011-2012