Pat Davis

Pat Davis is US Advocacy Director for Peace Brigades International, an NGO that since 1983 has worked in fourteen countries providing physical accompaniment to human rights defenders at risk. Working under the Brussels-based International Secretariat, she represents the concerns of PBI projects in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico and shapes and implements advocacy initiatives aimed at opening space for defenders to do their work. She has been working for PBI with this focus since 2017. Prior to her work with PBI, she was executive director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA where she worked for seven years, both in that capacity and as Communications Director. She co-authored The Blindfold’s Eyes (Orbis, 2002),winning Best History/Biography and Best First-Time Author awards from the Catholic Press Association and a Best Spiritual Book of the Year designation from Spirituality and Health magazine. Her work has been published in The Nation, Hispanic, Counterpunch, Foreign Policy in Focus, and Common Dreams, as well as by the North American Congress on Latin America, the Copenhagen Initiative for Central America and Mexico, and the Center for International Policy. She has spoken on human rights issues at the Cleveland City Club, the Carter Center, Haverford College, Georgetown University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Texas and has submitted testimony to Congress on human rights conditions in Central America. As well as a human rights advocate, she is a poet and playwright. Her dramatic work includes the stage play, Digna, about Mexican human rights defender Digna Ochoa, produced by Teatro Dignidad at Universidad Ibero-Americana in Mexico City; the International Colloquium of Latin American Theater (Mexico City); Cumbre Tajin Festival (Pepantla, Veracruz); Encuentro en la Frontera (Nogales, MX); and in Tucson, AZ. Digna was nominated for a Mac Award for Best New Drama of 2018. Pat was a fellow in Arena Stage Playwrights’ Arena playwright development program, where she developed Digna. Pat’s short plays have been selected for production in the Kathy Rasmussen Women’s Theater Festival (Madison, WI), the Jane Addams Festival (Freeport, IL), and Planet Connections Zoom Fest (NY, NY). She is author of a poetry collection and is currently translations editor of Poet Lore, the United States’ oldest journal devoted solely to poetry. .