Esset Samatova – Council Member

Esset Samatova is a psychologist and MHPSS and protection practitioner with more than 13 years of professional experience across psychology, human rights, and psychosocial support.

Her work focuses on the intersection of mental health, protection, and human rights, particularly the psychosocial impact of chronic threat, repression, discrimination, online harassment, and other pressures faced by human rights defenders and civil society actors. She has provided psychological support and developed and facilitated trainings on resilience, burnout prevention and recovery, risk analysis, online harassment, sustainable activism, and psychosocial wellbeing for activists and organisations working in high-pressure environments.

Her work on the wellbeing of human rights defenders includes co-authoring the 2019 Peer Care: Defenders Taking Responsibility for Each Other’s Well-Being, in Solidarity manual. The manual was developed following research with 127 civil society activists from the North Caucasus and was designed to strengthen peer support, prevent burnout, and promote psychological wellbeing among human rights defenders.

Esset is also the creator of a transformational game addressing burnout prevention, psychological resilience, and recovery of personal resources. Her broader professional interests include integrating MHPSS more systematically into protection practice and developing practical approaches that address both individual psychological needs and the external conditions affecting human rights defenders.

She has contributed to international discussions on human rights defender protection and wellbeing, including at the United Nations in Geneva. In 2022, she received the Seán MacBride Peace Prize for her work on peace, women’s rights, and human rights.

Selected Publications and Professional Resources

How Repression Erodes Collective Agency.
OpenGlobalRights, 2026.
https://www.openglobalrights.org/how-repression-erodes-collective-agency/

Author profile:
https://www.openglobalrights.org/esset-samatova/

Peer Care: Defenders Taking Responsibility for Each Other’s Well-Being, in Solidarity.
Co-author, 2019.
Developed by Resource Center “Development” and Young Women Development Groups in the North Caucasus, with support from Civil Rights Defenders.
PDF available upon request.

Over a century of Peace-Making

The IPB was founded in 1891-92, as a result of consultations at the Universal Peace Congresses, large gatherings held annually to bring together the national peace societies that had gradually developed, mainly in Europe and North America, from the end of the Napoleonic Wars onwards.
Continue reading “Over a century of Peace-Making”

Baroness Dayon Ako-Adounvo – Council Member

Baroness Dayon Ako-Adounvo was re-elected as an IPB Council member in October 2025, after serving a first term from 2022.
She has a background in biology and sales & business organization, airport operations and marketing. She is the founder and leader of the International Education Connect Agency which supports capacity building for the socio-economic development in Ghana and Sub-Saharan regions and promotes vocational skills exchange to foster peace and unity among the youth. Furthermore, she is founder and leader of the Feeding Hands Ministry & Zoes Trust, a non-government organization that supports villages in Ghana with food, water, and clothes.

Abusing Workers’ Rights is a Threat to Peace: IPB Reacts to the 2020 ITUC Global Rights Index (EN/FR)

Abusing workers’ rights is a threat to peace.

The IPB has always considered the respect for human and workers rights as critical pillars for peace in our nations. Abuse these fundamental rights and the floodgates are open to weaken peace, democracy and social justice. Take away the freedom of expression, protest, association and the balance of power tips further toward authoritarianism and raw and abusive corporate power. Continue reading “Abusing Workers’ Rights is a Threat to Peace: IPB Reacts to the 2020 ITUC Global Rights Index (EN/FR)”

Statement of Solidarity with the Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington

June 17, 2020

The International Peace Bureau, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient organization, was proud and fortunate to collaborate with the Poor People’s Campaign on last spring’s Online World Conference 2020: Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Resist and Reverse Climate Change, for Social and Economic Justice. The Poor People’s Campaign’s recognition of the seminal importance of building on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent commitments – to challenge the mutually reinforcing triple evils of racism, poverty and militarism, with the addition of your commitment to environmental sustainability – is precisely what our time requires, and it inspires people around the globe, as well as across the United States. Continue reading “Statement of Solidarity with the Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington”

Cyrille Rolande Bechon – Board Member

Cyrille Rolande Bechon (She/her) has been elected as an IPB board member in 2025 and is a former IPB council member (2022-2025).

Cyrille is a Human Rights Advocate based in Cameroon for more than fifteen years. She is a human rights expert, transitional justice and conflict analysis/transformation. She is also a trainer and consultant in Human Rights, risk assessment and protection planning, monitoring evaluation and Learning.

She graduated from several universities and professional institutions. In addition to her master’s degree in human Rights from the University of Yaoundé 2, she holds a Law degree from the prestigious Washington College of Law (American University), which she earned in 2024 through the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship (Fulbright program of the U.S. Department of State). She also graduated in Transitional Justice from the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York and holds a specialization certificate in conflict analysis and transformation, awarded by the Catholic University of Central Africa (UCAC), Pierre-Mendès-France University (CERDHAP) and Modus Operandi in France.

Cyrille Rolande is a consultant for several national and international institutions, including the Center for Studies and Training for Development, Democracy and Peace (CEFODEP), Front Line Defenders, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, Amnesty International, Agir Ensemble pour les Droits Humains, European Partnership for Democracy.

She is the author or co-author of several publications and articles in the fields of Human Rights, Democracy, Peace, and conflict transformation. Cyrille Rolande Bechon has been leading the Cameroonian branch of the NGO Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme Cameroun since 2012. In this role, she has coordinated the design and implementation of several nationally significant projects and programs for the defense, protection, and promotion of human rights in Cameroon and Central Africa.

At the international level, Cyrille Rolande is an elected Member of the Board of the International Peace Bureau (IPB); she is also a member of the World Liberty Congress. She has had a professional affiliation with Amnesty International USA, where she published an advocacy article on U.S. policy regarding human rights and democracy in Cameroon.

Cyrille Rolande Bechon received the 2017 Human Rights Award from the Canadian Government in 2017, recognizing her outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Cameroon. She was also awarded the “Central Africa Woman Human Rights Defender ” in 2023 by REDHAC.

Selected Publications:

Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme: Study Report and Policy Brief on Ending Violence against Women and Girls in Cameroon and the Central African Republic » NAP 1325

Publication – ndh-cameroun

IPB Reflects on 200+ Years of Peace Movements

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IPB presented a two-part webinar series to explore the past two centuries of peace movement activities, including the role of the IPB, which was founded in 1891.

Further resources:

Presentation 1815-1914

Presentation 1915-1949

Presentation 1949-1990

Types of Peace Organizations

Timeline 1990-2020

IPB Programs Highlight 1990-2020

Peace Campaigning Recipe

Further Reading Recommendations Continue reading “IPB Reflects on 200+ Years of Peace Movements”

The History of the Peace Movement and the International Peace Bureau (Two-Part Webinar Series)

IPB presented a two-part webinar series to explore the past two centuries of peace movement activities, including the role of the IPB, which was founded in 1891. Continue reading “The History of the Peace Movement and the International Peace Bureau (Two-Part Webinar Series)”

Webinar on Anti-Racism Protest in the United States: No Justice, No Peace

George Floyd’s atrocious murder at the hand of the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25 represents only the most recent incident of racism and police brutality in the United States. The resulting protests have spread not only across major US cities, but have gone global. Continue reading “Webinar on Anti-Racism Protest in the United States: No Justice, No Peace”

Webinar on The Extreme Right and Militarization in Latin America

On the 28th of May, Dr. Pedro Páez Pérez, professor at the Central University of Ecuador and specialist on economic development and the political economy, joined IPB to discuss contemporary Latin American politics with particular attention to the ascension of far-right forces to power and their role in the militarization of the region. Continue reading “Webinar on The Extreme Right and Militarization in Latin America”