About Peru Support Group

The Peru Support Group is an independent NGO that works with Peruvian groups and an international network to defend human rights, promote social inclusion and strengthen democracy.

Support Us

We need your help! Most of the work is done by volunteers, but we do have a part time Coordinator. (S)he needs to visit our contacts in Peru and continental Europe. We do need to keep our email and website systems going.

So give what you can!

The UK Connection

As an international financial centre and the home to major mining corporations, the UK plays a critical role in Peru. The UK is the second biggest foreign investor in Peru. The British government also wields power in international institutions like the G8, World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union, making it a major player in rules on transparency, human rights and trade.

What We Do

  • Drawing on our international network of expert researchers and grassroots groups, we produce rigorous research and organise events to inform, debate and improve policy.
  • From our base in London, we work with allies in Peru and across Europe to advocate positive change and ensure governments and corporations are held to account..
  • We draw attention to poverty and human rights issues in Peru by providing timely news and analysis to an international network of policymakers, researchers and civil society groups.

History and Achievements

The Peru Support Group was established 30 years ago, when people in southern Peru faced human rights violations on a daily basis during the internal conflict, which left 70,000 people dead. The PSG played a major role in bringing those abuses to public attention in the UK and other European countries. We have since been intimately involved in the process of researching and disseminating the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which exposed the extent of human rights violations. 

In the 1980s, the PSG was active in groundbreaking attempts to renegotiate Peruvian debt and to channel resources into poverty relief.  During the 1990s, alongside a variety of organisations elsewhere in Europe, we highlighted democratic transgressions during the Fujimori period, providing a platform for Peruvian activists to campaign for the restoration of democracy. 

Since the fall of Fujimori in 2000, we have played a key role in exposing the problems associated with extractive industries, particularly in the mining sector. The report of the PSG parliamentary delegation to the Río Blanco mine, owned by the British company Monterrico Metals, was instrumental in defending the rights of peasant communities in northern Peru.  As a result of PSG involvement, local communities won an important out-of-court settlement compensating them for human rights violations. 

Who We Are

The Peru Support Group is run on a day-to- day basis by the coordinator, Ana Reyes-Hurt. Ana conducts our parliamentary and other lobbying work, with a focus on human rights, extractive industries and human rights defenders. Prior to joining the PSG, Ana worked in the Americas region of Amnesty International, specialising in the recognition and protection of human rights defenders across Latin America and the Caribbean. She has been working for the PSG for over four years.

The president of the Peru Support Group is Baroness Coussins, a crossbencher in the House of Lords with a background in equality campaigning and corporate social responsibility. The vice-president is Rosemary Thorp, emeritus fellow of Saint Anthony’s College, Oxford University, specialist in economic inequality and former chair of Oxfam GB.

The elected steering committee provides advice and oversight and comprises:

  • Vanessa Baird, associate and contributing editor for New Internationalist
  • John Beauclerk, freelance associate of INTRAC as well as Peru representative of a small Swiss NGO specialised in land, territory and indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazonia
  • Judith Condor Vidal, director of Trading for Development
  • John Crabtree, research associate at the Oxford University Latin American Centre, specialist in Andean politics
  • Nuria Garcia, former Amnesty International Peru researcher and freelance human rights consultant
  • Tom Pegram (Secretary), deputy director of the Institute of Global Governance at University College London
  • Natalia Sobrevilla, professor of Latin American History, Kent University
  • Tim Thorp (Treasurer), retired civil servant

The Peru Support Group is an independent, non-profit organisation currently funded by CAFOD, our members and volunteer fundraisers.

Links to organisations

Peru Support has links with many organisation. In some cases these links are very close as we consult with them regularly and at times work with them on projects.

Sponsors

Lord Brenan QC
Ann Clwyd MP
Linda Fabiani MSP
Richard Howitt
Simon Hughes
Reverend Ed O'Connell
Hugh O'Shaughnessy
Professor William Rowe
Rosemary Thorp CBE
Wendy Tyndale

Founding Sponsor

Graham Greene

Coordinator

Ana Reyes-Hurt
Tel: +44 (0) 7936 631 932
Email: coordinator@perusupportgroup.org.uk
Skype: peru.support.group

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