Under this context, EIDHR “Support to Human Rights Defenders” call for proposals 2010 has been set up “to finance actions aimed at providing direct support and protection to human rights defenders as well as to reinforce their capacities to do their work in the short and long-term.”
The main priorities of this call for proposals are:
1. To provide short and long-term direct financial, material and other forms of support and protection to human rights defenders, including to those living outside the capitals and in remote areas.
2. To support and reinforce the capacities of human rights defenders, including those living in remote areas, to carry out their human rights work and to increase their organisational and financial capacities with a view of ensuring the sustainability of their actions in the future.
3. To increase the awareness among defenders of international and regional mechanisms and instruments to protect human rights defenders such as the EU Guidelines, including among those living in remote areas.
4. To contribute to break the isolation and social exclusion of human rights defenders in their communities by sensitising national and international public opinion about their work and role in the promotion and defence of human rights and by reinforcing their capacities in networking with other human rights civil society organisations on an international, regional and national level.
Applicants submitting project proposals under the EIDHR “Support to Human Rights Defenders” call for proposals 2010 are required to have partnerships with one local partner atleast. However, when under certain circumstances, this may not be possible, proper justification has to be given. Partnership can be formal or informal.
Formal partners are those who participate in the design and in the implementation of the action and they must satisfy the same eligibility criteria as the applicant.
“The informal partners are individual human rights defenders, local human rights organizations or a group of natural persons who participate in the implementation of the action but are not formal members of the partnership. To this end they are not required to comply with the same eligibility criteria as the applicant nor do they have to sign a partnership statement. They can be non-legal or non-registered organisations.”
