Liam Mahony is a freelance consultant living in Massachusetts, USA. His most recent publication, Proactive Presence: Field strategies for civilian protection, (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2006) is aimed at promoting and training large-scale international field missions in conflict zones to better promote the protection of human rights in situations of conflict and repression.

After an initial career as a community activist, Mr. Mahony began working with Peace Brigades International (PBI) in Guatemala in the 1980s, and went on to develop field training frameworks for PBI, and co-found PBI’s field presence in Haiti in the 1990s. He currently serves as a member of PBI’s International Council.

Liam’s other published works include Unarmed Bodyguards: International Accompaniment for the Protection of Human Rights (Kumarian, 1997), Risking Return: The Role of NGOs in the Guatemalan Refugee Return (Life and Pecae Institute, 1999, Side by Side (A tactical notebook – monograph – published by the New Tactics in Human Rights Project) and he was editor of the Kosovo Report of the Independent International Commission on Kosovo (Oxford University Press, 2000).

Liam has been Lecturer in Public and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, and was the series editor of 40 monographs on innovations in the human-rights movement – the Tactical Notebook series of the New Tactics in Human Rights Project. His recent consulting projects include commissions for the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Council of Churches, Amnesty International, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Food Programme, and the Internal Displacement Division of the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. As a consultant, he is currently working on editing the Human Rights Monitoring Manual of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and developing and delivering trainings for both OHCHR and for the Protection Standby Capacity project of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

David Grant is responsible for Nonviolent Peaceforce new project development in six world regions, and liaisons with the United Nations. Before joining Nonviolent Peaceforce, David lived in the Netherlands to be Coordinator of International Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Nonviolence Education & Training Program. He also was a trainer for Dutch observers to the Middle East and Intercultural Specialist for the Royal Tropical Institute. In the early 1990’s, David was Director of Rural Southern Voice for Peace, which included developing the community organizing tool, “The Listening Project”. David’s other life experiences include public television producing and directing, homesteading, coordinating a soup kitchen, creative writing, performance art and conscientious objection to the Vietnam War, David has special interest in “nonviolent struggle through the cultural arts”, including development of large-scale simulations. David lives in Washington, DC.

CPT Colombia team: Christian Peacemaker Teams in Colombia provides accompaniment to threatened communities, organizations and their leaders, and documents violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. A combination of trained full-time and reservist volunteers from Colombia, Canada and the United States staff the team.
As a team, we actively participate in campaigns and initiatives of local and international organizations and churches working for violence reduction, social justice, grass-roots community development, self-determination and peace. In consultation with our Colombian partners, we also initiate public actions. (We are especially known our "liturgical actions") Through our writings and the hosting of both national and international delegations, we work to visibilize the Colombian struggle for peace nationally and in North America. When we are not in Colombia, CPT Colombia team members are active in our countries of origin, where we do public education, lobby government, organize and/or participate in public actions and demonstrations, and work with our supporters and other North-American-based organizations who share our concern for Colombian victims of injustice and violence. We work to mobilize our supporters to learn more about Colombia and in turn to work to transform public policies from ones that fund military solutions and perpetuate economic dependence, to policies that foster nonviolent approaches to conflict, the building of community, and autonomy.