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From January 23 to 29 our featured resouce people, organizations and community members provided wonderful insights and their experiences regarding unarmed accompaniment.
Unarmed Accompaniment: Protecting human rights defenders so they can continue their important work! Human rights defenders do their work in unpredictable and often dangerous situations and conditions around the world. Unarmed accompaniment provides a powerful witness to those who may wish to harm defenders, letting them know their actions will be known.
If you missed that time period, don't worry, you can still add your comments, questions and ideas. The discussion remains open for the community to continue the exchange. The only change is that the featured resource people have returned to their daily commitments and may not have the opportunity to respond.
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[Photo: A Christian Peacemaker in Iraq]
Table of Contents
The following table of contents was developed to make the dialogue easier to navigate. Important themes and different discussions have been highlighted for archival purposes and for new users. The preferred method of viewing the comments is with "Thread list - expanded" option, which is explained here. A list of resources mentioned in the dialogue can be found here.
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 | Clockwise from Top Left: Liam Mahony, from the network members of Peace Brigades International, Nonviolent Peaceforce Team Two in Sri Lanka, and the ECAP Colombia Team and network members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams - CPT. |
Many organizations and people around the world have been involved in the amazing gift of providing unarmed protection to human rights defenders. This is not a new tactic - it probably dates back before written history - for bravery and sacrifice are as much a part of our human make-up as violence and self-gain. But we also know that tactics shift and change with the demands of the times. What has this tactic meant to us in OUR time?
Philippe Duhamel, in his inter-Tactica blog shares about his friend, Barbara, in "Heros and the courage to be there"
When my friend Barbara left in 1985, the whole accompaniment thing was barely starting. A small-scale intrepid outfit on a shoestring. She joined Peace Brigades International, to protect families of the disappeared in Guatemala.
David Grant, from the Nonviolence Peaceforce, shared with New Tactics that there are many organizations involved [over 80 organizations around the world in the Nonviolent Peaceforce Network] in providing unarmed accompaniment. Let's share where we have come in our time. One question Philippe posed in his blog: "How is accompaniment different in the various countries where projects are now underway?"
We welcome you to continue to share your experiences, comments, questions and ideas! Remember, although this discussion has been "archived", you may still continue and contribute to the discussion.
