European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)

The instrument for democracy and human rights supports the promotion, development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law as well as the respect for human rights worldwide. Assistance under EIDHR complements other tools which are used to implement EU policies for democracy and human rights such as ENI, DCI and IfS.

It aims to contribute to an increased respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to promote democratic reforms in third countries through support to civil society organisations support. Furthermore to support and enhance the international framework for the protection, promotion and monitoring of human rights, the promotion of democracy and the rule of law and reinforce an active for civil society within these frameworks.

The EIDHR's scope has been updated on the issues of support to democracy, economic and social rights and freedom of thought. Its objectives have been better defined to protection of human rights and support of democratic processes. The instrument will have a stronger focus on the most difficult countries and urgency situations where human rights and fundamental freedoms are most endangered. In such situations, the Union will be able to respond in a flexible and timely manner through ad hoc grants. This will particularly be the case where less speedy solutions would expose beneficiaries to the risk of serious intimidation or retaliation and in order to address urgent protection needs of human rights defenders on the ground. Concretely this means: informal partnerships can benefit from funds; re-granting within projects will be possible; grants for human rights defenders in urgent protection needs will be possible; direct award of grants can be used where calls for proposal are not possible (e.g. Belarus, Iran, China). Its implementation will be more flexible and will be fully untied which means that aid will not be labelled for certain countries in advance but be provided through open procedures, responding to needs.

Status

running

Target Group

Organizations

Activities

Demonstration and investment activities

Subjects

Other

Source Regions

European Union

Source Countries

Eligible Regions

World wide

Eligible Countries

Grant Types

Cooperation, collaboration

Funding Bodies

Languages

Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish Gaelic, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish

Support Types

Deadline Date

2014-08-08

Programme

Programme Owner

European Commission

Managing Authority

Democracy and Human Rights Department

About

Services

Website

http://www.eidhr.eu/

Legal Source

Proposal for a a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide

Supporting Programme

Resources

http://

Refering Grants

Annual

yes

Focus

Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries where they are most at risk;
Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, in supporting the peaceful conciliation of group interests and, in consolidating political participation and representation;
Supporting actions on human rights and democracy issues in areas covered by EU Guidelines, including on human rights dialogues, on human rights defenders, on the death penalty, on torture, on children and armed conflict, on the rights of the child, on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them, on International Humanitarian Law and on possible future guidelines;
Supporting and strengthening the international and regional framework for the protection and promotion of human rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy;
Building confidence in and enhancing the reliability and transparency of democratic electoral processes, in particular through election obs
EIDHR Highlights

Torture

Democracy

Death Penalty

Economic and Social Rights

International Justice

LGBT, women, children, minorities

Electoral observation
ervation.

Duration

2014-2020

Proposal Submission

The selection of projects funded under the EIDHR takes place in several ways:

Global calls for proposals: the projects cover all the objectives of EIDHR and are selected by the Commission in consultation with its local delegations.
Country calls for proposals: they are specific to one country (Country Based Support Schemes – CBSS) and they cover local projects designed to reinforce the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reforms, in facilitating the peaceful reconciliation of group interests and in consolidating political participation and representation and are managed by local EU delegations.
Direct support to Human Rights Defenders through small grants: when quick intervention through small and targeted actions is needed, the European Commission manages a small facility to provide ad-hoc grants of up to 10.000 Euro to be awarded to human rights defenders in need of urgent support either by headquarters or by EU Delegations.
Implementation

Funds are allocated according to strategy papers, which specify the priority areas selected for financing, objectives, the expected results, performance evaluation as well as indicative financial allocation.

The assistance measures shall be implemented in the territory of third countries or shall be directly related to situations arising in third countries, or shall be directly related to global or regional actions.

The assistance measures shall take into account the specific features of crisis or urgency situations and countries or situations where there is a serious lack of fundamental freedoms, where human security is most at risk or where human rights organisations and defenders operate under the most difficult conditions.
Supported activities
Support for human rights defenders
Education in the area of human rights and democracy
Support for civil society organisations focusing on human rights
Fostering cooperation of civil society with international organisations, and supporting civil Society activities aimed at monitoring the implementation of instruments concerning human rights
Promoting observance of international humanitarian law
Assistance shall aim in particular at:
(a) enhancing the respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional human rights instruments, and strengthening their protection, promotion and monitoring, mainly through support to relevant civil society organisations, human rights defenders and victims of repression and abuse;
(b) supporting and consolidating democratic reforms in third countries, by enhancing participatory and representative democracy, strengthening the overall democratic cycle, and improving the reliability of electoral processes, in particular by means of election observation missions.

Terms And Conditions

Legal basis: Proposal for a a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a financing instrument for the promotion of democracy and human rights worldwide
Link: Website, Regulation

Budget

1 332, 75 million in current prices

Available Calls

Total Funding Amount

Selection Criteria

The projects’ beneficiaries vary according to the objectives. Calls for project proposals are often open to civil society organisations based anywhere in the world.The entities eligible for funding depending on the specific objectives of each action/call for proposal are:

public- and private-sector non-profit organisations;
national, regional and international parliamentary bodies, when the proposed measure cannot be financed under a related Community external assistance instrument; international and regional inter-governmental organisations; natural persons, when their help is necessary for achieving the aims of the EIDHR.

Open To

Civil society organisations;and p<span line-height:public- and private-sector non-profit organisations.

Notes