The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) is a European Union programme that aims to promote democracy and human rights worldwide through support to civil society initiatives.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals are to support civil society and human rights defenders working outside the EU in five key areas of human rights corresponding to the five recurring lots of 2014-2017 EIDHR global calls for proposals:

• Lot 1: Supporting Human Rights Defenders in the area of land-related rights, indigenous peoples, in the context of inter alia ‘land grabbing’ and climate change.

The general objective of Lot 1 is to support, protect and enable Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and HRDs organizations, working on land and other natural resources-related rights (waters, subsoil, forest, extractives, etc.) including in context of ‘land grabbing’ , climate change and/or indigenous peoples’ .rights.

The specific objectives of Lot 1 are:

• to reinforce the short and long-term capacities of these HRDs and HRDs’ organizations
• to reinforce their resilience capacities
• to support their engagement with State and non-State actors

For the purpose of this call, actions should focus on at least one of the specific objectives mentioned above.

                LOT 2: Fighting against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The general objective of Lot 2 is to fight against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The specific objectives of Lot 2 are:

• to support projects dealing with prevention of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings; and/or
• to support projects promoting accountability for perpetrators and the search for remedy for victims and their families in cases of enforced disappearances and/or extrajudicial killings.

LOT 3: Combating forced labour AND  modern slavery

The general objective of Lot 3 is to support actions contributing to combat forced labour in the agriculture/forestry sector with coercive recruitment practices.

The specific objectives of Lot 3 are:

• to promote and support the ratification and effective implementation of the UN/ ILO conventions and protocols[1] related to forced labour
• to facilitate international and regional cooperation (including judicial, police cooperation, etc. ) with the view to prevent and eliminate forced labour practices in the agriculture/forestry sector with special attention to recruitment practices and supply chains
• to provide protective and accompanying measures for victims and/or potential victims of forced labour and their family as well as human rights defenders in the agriculture/forestry sector
• to ensure access to remedy for victims, accountability and prosecution of perpetrators;
• to support measures preventing forced labour and to address the systemic and structural vulnerability to forced labour and severe labour abuses of agriculture/forestry related in particular to its labour intensity and seasonal character
• to support due diligence by the private and public sectors to respond to the risk of forced labour and identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their adverse impacts in this field.

For the purpose of this call, actions should focus on at least one of the specific objectives mentioned above.

LOT 4: Promoting and supporting the rights of persons with disabilities.

The general objective of Lot 4 is to promote the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

The specific objectives of Lot 4 are:

• to promote and support the ratification, effective implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and its Optional Protocol,

• to foster partnerships between human rights civil society organisations and disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs) and/or civil society organisations working for persons with disabilities in order to integrate disability within their wider human rights work.

Both specific objectives need to be covered.

                    LOT 5: Supporting freedom of religion or belief

The general objective of Lot 5 is to promote and protect freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, also known as freedom of religion or belief.

The specific objectives of Lot 5 are the following:

• to promote everyone’s freedom to believe or not to believe, without any coercion, with a particular focus on countries or situations where individuals are penalised for the act of freely choosing, changing or abandoning their religion or belief;
• to promote the right either alone or in community with others, in public or private, to express or manifest a religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance, including artistic and cultural expressions of belief and enjoyment of cultural/religious heritage;
• to prevent and combat discrimination, intolerance and violence on grounds of religion or belief in all its forms, whether committed by governmental or non-governmental actors.
• to enhance mutual understanding and respect between individuals of different faith or none, contributing to inclusive communities and societies accepting diversity and capable of addressing potential conflicts in a peaceful manner.

For the purpose of this call, actions should focus on at least one of the specific objectives mentioned above.

Indicative allocation of funds for each lot: EUR 5,000,000.

Eligibility of applicants

In order to be eligible for a grant, the applicants must:

• be a legal person or an entity without legal personality or a natural person and
• be non-profit-making and
• be a specific type of organisation such as:

1. civil society organizations, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations, indigenous peoples’ organisations, disabled persons organisations and private-sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level;
2. b) National Human Rights Institutions, Ombudspersons;
3. c) non-profit-making universities

The planned duration of an action may not be lower than 30 nor exceed 36 months. Actions must take place in at least two (2) countries outside the European Union. In particular, actions may take place:

1. a) in challenging environments (e.g. where there is less or no room for dialogue with national authorities; where the interventions may give the opportunity to set precedents; where expectations regarding final impact must be more modest; where no human rights reports are submitted to UN instances; where UN or other regional human rights bodies’ recommendations are not given follow-up;
2. b) in countries where a clear impact can be reached at the end of the action (e.g. where law change is feasible; where there is openness for dialogue with authorities; where it is possible to implement training courses for officials; where recommendations from the UN and/or other regional human rights bodies are followed, etc.)

Applications

To apply for this call for proposals the lead applicants need to provide information about the organisations involved in the action through the registration in PADOR which is obligatory for this call for proposals. Then they shall submit their application in the documents via PROSPECT.

This is a restricted call for proposals. In the first instance, only concept notes (Annex A.1) must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application. After the evaluation of the full applications, an eligibility check will be performed for those which have been provisionally selected.

Applicants must apply in English, French or Spanish.

Deadline for submission of concept notes is at 09/11/2017 at 16:00 (Brussels date and time)

Further information are available on the website of EuropeAid

[1] This specific objective is not limited to the agriculture and/or forestry sectors.