The Guatemala Project field team is made up of volunteers from many countries. These volunteers have gone through a long and detailed training which covers the situation in Guatemala as well as the work of international accompaniment that PBI has evolved in different countries.

When those we work with or our volunteers are threatened, we call on international pressure from our support network made up of a wide array of institutions, members of parliament, church groups, NGOs, governmental and civil employees and diplomats that have expressed their endorsement of the Guatemala Project's work.

The Project works according to a philosophy of nonviolence, within the framework of international human rights norms, under a strict respect for local laws and is independent of political and religious agendas. The Guatemala Project receives funds from many public and private institutions of different countries, which allows us clear financial independence from any organization.

Areas of work

Accompaniment

The Guatemala Project team carries out daily international accompaniment of people and organizations who promote human rights and whose work is affected by having received threats or harassment. Our aim is to protect and enlarge the space for these people and organizations to carry out their work.

Public relations

The volunteers of the Guatemala Project maintain continuous contact with Guatemalan civil authorities, and with international bodies such as embassies and the United Nations. We do this to allow them to participate in our support and protection work, as well as to update them on our concerns for the people with whom we work.

Publications

From the project office in Madrid we distribute information produced by the team on the ground about the human rights situation in Guatemala, based on public sources of information.

Workshops

At the request of local NGOs, the Guatemala Project offers workshops in security training for human rights defenders. This is done in the hope that such practices are integrated into their daily activities. In December 2006, a series of workshops on Information Security were organized in the Capital.