Nonviolent Peaceforce

Description

Nonviolent Peaceforce is an international nongovernmental organization that protects civilians in violent conflict through unarmed strategies. It works alongside communities to interrupt and prevent violence using unarmed civilian protection, training local people and directly protecting them. It builds peace side by side with local communities and advocates for the wider adoption of these methods to safeguard human lives and dignity.

The organization was founded in New Delhi in 2002, prompted by a 1999 citizens conference in the Hague. Its central offices are in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Geneva, Switzerland, with legal entities in the United States, Belgium, France and Switzerland. It holds Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

It has worked in Sri Lanka, Guatemala, the South Caucasus, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Lebanon and Syria, the Philippines, South Sudan, Myanmar, Iraq, Thailand, the United States and Sudan. Its teams train local women’s protection groups, monitor ceasefires, protect displaced people and support civil society organizations responding to violence. In several countries it works as part of international monitoring teams overseeing ceasefire agreements.