Anil Pant

Anil is a freelance consultant based in Nepal. He has extensive experience in governance, organisational development, human rights campaigning, conflict management and human-rights based development programming.  From 2012 and 2018, he served as the Director of Amnesty International’s Movement Support Program and from 2009 to 2012 as the Director of Global Campaigns Program in London, United Kingdom. Prior to that, Anil served as the Head of Governance of ActionAid International in Johannesburg, South Africa. Anil was also a member of Amnesty’s Global Standing Committee on Organisation and Development in 1999-2003 that advised the International Board on organisational development matters. He worked in the field of human rights, development, governance and conflict management in Nepal before moving on to undertaking international positions. 

Chris Abbott

Anil is Chris Abbott is the founder and CEO of Open Briefing and a collaborator in the Civic Ecosystem Initiative. He is passionate about empowering human rights defenders to agitate and advocate without fear of attacks and reprisals. With Open Briefing, he has created a rapid response mechanism to provide fully-funded holistic security support to human rights defenders and other civic actors at risk of physical, digital, or psychological harm. Chris has a deep understanding of risk management - from the grassroots to the global - through which he hopes to support the mission and people of Peace Brigades International as a member of the international council. Previously, he was the deputy director of the peace and security think tank the Oxford Research Group and an honorary research fellow in the Centre for Governance and International Affairs at the University of Bristol and in the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. He is the author of two books and more than 50 influential reports and articles on security and politics. Closer to home, he lives with his damily on a smallholding in rural Cornwall, whre they have planted over 6,000 trees. As an activist, Chris is also passionate advocate for neurodiversity acceptance, human rights and mental health, and the right to home educate.

Fathi Zabaar (President) 

Fathi Zabaar is a Tunisian jurist and human rights advocate. He is a Program Director with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Fathi has been running programs at global and regional levels notably in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and West Africa in the fields of human rights and transitional justice. He works with community based organizations providing training and technical assistance on advocacy, strategy and conflict resolution. Fathi holds a law degree and a Master’s Degree in Conflict Transformation. Fathi currently lives and works in New York City.

Lien Pham 

Lien Pham is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Lien holds a PhD in Sociology from Macquarie University, Australia. Her research interests and publications are in international development, civil society, globalisation and social justice combining political sociology and critical theory. Her latest book “Political Participation and Democratic Capability in Authoritarian States” is published in the Routledge book series Explorations in Development Studies. Lien has consulted for various Australian government agencies in policy-focused research and social policy evaluations, and for multilateral organisations in Asia Pacific on educational policy reforms. She is currently serving as Director of Research and Evaluation at East Meets West Foundation, an international development NGO in South-East Asia.

Marc Bontemps (Treasurer)

Marc is a commercial engineer who worked as auditor for PwC Belgium and was lecturer of Cost Accounting at Brussels University. He fulfilled different management functions in development NGO’s such as Oxfam Belgium, Ecolife and Forum Ethibel/Vigeo. In 2010, he co-founded NewB, the new sustainable, ethical cooperative bank in Belgium. In addition to being on PBI’s International Council, Marc is also a member of the Finance and Audit Committee.

Oscar Gómez Córdoba

Oscar is a psychologist, social researcher and human rights activist with extensive experience in providing psychosocial accompaniment to victims of socio-political violence. He has carried out this work in Colombia and Latin America, leading community-based organisations to defend human rights and advocate for victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparation. Oscar is currently a consultant on human rights and lives in the United Kingdom.

Shane Guthrie (Secretary) 

Shane has worked and volunteered in peace and human rights for 35 years. He was a field volunteer in the Indonesia Project of Peace Brigades International (PBI) from 1999 to 2002. He has since supported PBI in logistics, training, and human resources management, in Kenya and in its international governance. He also worked with human rights organisations in Indonesia on capacity building and strategic communication. In Australia, he worked as a social justice researcher for several parliamentarians. He currently works in community development for people with disability. Shane has a Master of Development Studies, focused on human rights protection.