Who We Are

PBI UK is run by a small team of core staff and our work is made possible by the dozens of volunteers who give their time and skills to the organisation. We are governed by a board of trustees and we are hugely grateful to the support provided by our patrons. We are also extremely grateful to all of our donors.

Our Patrons

Lord Joffe

Lord Joffe is a Labour peer in the House of Lords and worked as a human rights lawyer 1958-65, including, at the infamous 1963-4 Rivonia Trial, representing Nelson Mandela. Later he moved to the United Kingdom, and worked in the financial services industry as well as the voluntary sector. He was associated with Oxfam in various roles between 1982 and 2001, including being its Chair 1995-2001.

"As a human rights lawyer in South Africa where in the 1960's I defended courageous political prisoners including Nelson Mandela, I know how lonely and dangerous this can be for the defence lawyers involved. Peace Brigades International UK plays a vital role in protecting and supporting human rights defenders in countries where such defenders are often in far greater danger than we in South Africa ever faced. The presence of PBI's defenders is critical for the lawyers and other human rights defenders involved both for their safety and ensuring that their clients and their client's communities obtain justice. That is why I am proud to be a Patron of Peace Brigades International UK".

Sir Henry Brooke

Executive Vice-President of the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association and Former Lord Justice of Appeal & Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division). At different times he has chaired the Bar’s Race Relations Committee, the Judicial Studies Board’s advisory committee which introduced racial awareness training for English magistrates and judges, and the Law Commission (the Government’s independent law reform advisory unit). He was also a member of the departmental committee involved in providing for the smooth implementation of the Human Rights Act and of the Court Service committee responsible for modernising the courts. Since becoming a judge he has travelled widely across the world to speak about human rights, penal reform, access to justice and equality issues. As a well as patron of PBI UK, he is also a trustee of the Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund, and a registered mediator.

Sir Robert Carnwath

Sir Robert Carnwath was called to the Bar at Middle Temple in 1968. He practised in parliamentary law, planning and local government, revenue law and administrative law. He was Junior Counsel to Inland Revenue from 1980 to 1985. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1985, and was Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales from 1988 to 1994. He was appointed as a High Court judge on 3 October 1994, in the Chancery Division, and received the customary knighthood. He served as Chairman of the Law Commission from 1999 to July 2002. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal on 15 January 2002 and, as is customary, became a member of the Privy Council.

Julie Christie

Julie Christie is an Academy Award-winning English film actress, best known for her roles in films such as Dr Zhivago and Don't Look Now. She is a passionate supporter of the human rights movement and recently supported PBI by reading our BBC radio 4 appeal.

Sir Nigel Rodley KBE

Sir Nigel Rodley KBE is Professor of Law at the University of Essex and Member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. He was the first Legal Adviser of the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, where he remained until 1990. He also taught Public International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1973 to 1990. In March 1993, he was designated Special Rapporteur on Torture of the UN Commission on Human Rights, serving until November 2001. Since 2001, he has been the elected UK expert member of the Human Rights Committee established under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Vice Chair 2003-2004). He was elected Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists in 2003 and is currently a member of its Executive Committee. He has published numerous texts and was awarded a KBE in the 1998/1999 New Year's Honours List 'for services to human rights and international law', and an honorary LLD from Dalhousie University in May 2000. In 2005, he was awarded the American Society of International Law Goler T Butcher Human Rights Medal for distinguished work in the field of human rights.

Baroness D'Souza

Baroness D'Souza has an academic background in anthropology and taught
at both the London School of Economics and Oxford Brookes University.
She was for over nine years the Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, a human righs organisation devoted to promoting freedom of expression.

She is a Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy,
Consultant to the REDRESS Trust and Trustee of many organisations
concerned with human rights and development. She was awarded a CMG in 1998 for services to human rights and appointed
an independent peer in 2004.

Our Board of Trustees

Joanne Holden ACA

Joanne is a Certified Accountant who qualified with the Newcastle office of Binder Hamlyn in 1991. She has subsequently worked in the private sector and has many years of financial and management experience. She joined the PBI UK management committee in November 2003, and in 2007 she undertook a seven month voluntary assignment for a UK charity based in Tanzania. She is currently studying a MSc in Development management with the Open University.

Jill Powis

Jill was a field volunteer for PBI Colombia Project, and then one of its two fundraisers. She has also worked as an office volunteer for PBI UK on a number of occasions. She is a long-standing member of Amnesty International, and has been a coordinator for AI UK for many years - currently on Ecuador. She has undertaken accompaniment work on the West Bank, for the World Council of Churches.

Rebekah Wilson

Rebekah has practised as a barrister for ten years specialising in discrimination and human rights law in predominantly legally aided work. She has also volunteered for the UN Mission In Nepal as a Civil Affairs Officer and worked on Victims Participation before the ICC.

Our Office Team

Susi Bascon, Director PBI UK

Susi completed an MBA and worked in the private sector for several years. She moved to London in 1996 to do an MSc in Development Studies, hoping to transfer her skills into the voluntary sector. She worked for the Colombia project and spent a year in Mexico doing fieldwork. She has been our coordinator since 1998. She says, “As a field volunteer I was deeply touched by the strength of spirit and courage of the human rights defenders I had the privilege to accompany…their commitment to justice went often beyond the fear of losing their own lives".

Pamela Feldman, Fund-raising Officer

Pam started volunteering at Peace Brigades UK in 1999. Her volunteer work focused on advocacy and training related to the Indonesia project. Her volunteer work at PBI inspired her to change her career from doing research in social psychology to doing fund-raising in charities. She is grateful for all that she has learned at PBI already and is excited to be a part of the organisation as a fund-raiser.