In 2024, we stood shoulder to shoulder with people defending life, land and justice. From those searching for truth and justice in Colombia to environmental campaigners in Kenya, our volunteers, staff and partners helped keep communities safe, raise alarms where it matters, and push for lasting change.
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The Impact at a Glance: 2024 in Numbers
✊ 3,900+ defenders accompanied
👥 307,480 people protected
🪴 1,236 communities supported
🤝 83 collectives strengthened
🕊️ 291 volunteers (including 70 protection volunteers)
🌍 98 staff across 20 teams
📋 Staff and volunteers from 38 countries across the world
🌐 420,248 people reached through all our work (advocacy, training and capacity building, events and awareness activities)
“Having PBI present has provided a strong sense of security and solidarity.”
— Lance Mbani, Program Officer, CJGEA, Kenya
Protection in practice
How PBI protects defenders
Our approach is holistic. Trained volunteers provide visible, protective accompaniment; we support digital and psychological security; we observe, document and report abuses; and we connect defenders with national and international decision-makers. These layers together make it safer for people to continue essential work.
A world-first law and a major policy victory
What solidarity made possible in 2024–25
In June 2024, Colombia took a historic step. Law 2364 was signed — the world’s first law recognising and protecting the women who search for people who have disappeared during conflict. This milestone came after years of tireless work by women-led groups and the sustained accompaniment and international advocacy of organisations including PBI. Yanette Bautista — who began searching for her sister and went on to found the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation — played a central role. Her determination helped carry the issue from local searches to the chambers of Congress.
Meanwhile, a second landmark victory in January 2025 underlined the power of community action. Following sustained campaigning and legal and civic pressure, Kenya’s Cabinet dissolved the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), halting a controversial nuclear programme that threatened coastal communities and protected ecosystems around Kilifi. Local campaigners, led by the Centre for Justice Governance and Environmental Action (CJGEA) with protective accompaniment and solidarity from PBI, pushed the debate into national view, arguing for renewable, just energy solutions instead.
Why it matters: Legislative change and policy shifts protect people and their environments for generations. These wins are practical proof that protection plus advocacy can change laws, halt destructive projects, and affirm communities’ rights.
Highlights from the year include:
Colombia – The passing of Law 2364, the world’s first to recognise and protect women searching for the disappeared.
Kenya – Communities successfully halted plans for a destructive nuclear power plant on community land, choosing renewable futures instead.
Nepal & Guatemala – Defenders secured new legal reforms advancing peace and transitional justice.Behind these milestones are people — women defenders, Indigenous leaders, environmental activists — whose courage inspires us all.
“PBI has saved lives in our country… The protective accompaniment, the human connection that PBI gives us is fundamental to our work.”
— Mildrey Corrales Charry, Human Rights Defender and Technical Secretariat, Coordination of Colombia Europe and United States
Read our Global Annual Review 2024
Thank you
To everyone who donated, shared, or volunteered — thank you for being part of this global community 💚
Your support has enabled us to provide protective presence, legal accompaniment, psycho-emotional support, and advocacy to thousands of people around the world. Get involved, make a gift, or read more of what we do!
