European Commission
European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)
Support to Human Rights Defenders
Restricted Call for Proposals 2010
Guidelines for grant applicants
Budget line 19.04.01
Reference: EuropeAid/129204/C/ACT/Multi
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes: 3 September 2010

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME AND PRIORITY ISSUES
The general objectives of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights are to contribute to
the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law as well as to the respect for all human
rights and fundamental freedoms, within the framework of the European Union’s policy on development
cooperation with third countries and consistently with the EU’s foreign policy as a whole.
The EIDHR is designed to help civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defence of
human rights. Building on its key strength, which is the ability to operate without the need for host
government consent, the EIDHR is able to focus on sensitive political issues and innovative approaches and
to cooperate directly with local civil society organisations which need to preserve independence from public
authorities, providing for great flexibility and increased capacity to respond to changing circumstances.
The EIDHR is applied at national, regional and international levels and supports actions carried out
throughout the world, including in EU Member States if relevant to needs in third countries.
To implement this instrument the European Commission adopted a multiannual Strategy Paper which sets
out in detail five specific objectives for the instrument for the period 2007-2010:
1. Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries and regions where they
are most at risk.
2. Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, supporting
the peaceful conciliation of group interests and consolidating political participation and
representation.
3. Supporting actions on human-rights and democracy issues in areas covered by EU guidelines,
including dialogues on human rights, human rights defenders, the death penalty, torture, and
children and armed conflict.
4. Supporting and strengthening the international and regional frameworks for the protection of human
rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy.
5. Building confidence in and enhancing the reliability and transparency of democratic electoral
processes, in particular through election observation.
The current Strategy Paper 2007-2010 can be consulted at:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/human-rights/documents/eidhr_strategy_paper_2007-2010_en.pdf
1 Regulation (EC) No 1889/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 20.12.2006, OJ L 386, 29.12.2006, p.1,
(http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/human-rights/documents/reg_1889_2006_jo_l386_en.pdf).
Call for Proposals 2010 – EuropeAid/129204/C/ACT/Multi − Guidelines for Grant Applicants
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes: 3 September 2010

1.2.1. Objectives of this Call for Proposals
The general objective of this Call for Proposals is to contribute to the promotion and protection of human
rights and democracy through the support to human rights defenders (HRDs), as established under
Objective 3 of the EIDHR Strategy paper 2007-2010.
Support for human rights defenders has long been an integral part of the European Union’s external policy on
human rights. In June 2004 the Council adopted the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, which
provide practical recommendations to streamline EU actions in this field. The Guidelines, which build on the
UN Declaration on human rights defenders adopted in 1998, represent the political framework under which
financial support is given to defenders through the EIDHR.
The EU Human Rights Defenders Guidelines can be consulted at:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/GuidelinesDefenders.pdf
Due to the essential role that human rights defenders, individuals or groups of individuals, play in
safeguarding and promoting human rights and democracy, particularly in countries where internal armed
conflict or civil unrest exists, in post-conflict situations or where the legal and institutional protections and
guarantees of human rights are not fully assured or are non-existent, defenders face an increasing number of
grave violations to their rights and threats to their personal security, to their families’ as well as to their
human rights work. Because of the nature of the rights they seek to protect certain categories of human rights
advocates, among whom women human rights defenders, defenders of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBTI) rights, journalists and media professionals, trade unionists, defenders’ lawyers, defenders of
environmental, land and other economic, social and cultural rights, children rights’ defenders and defenders
of rights of indigenous peoples, are particularly vulnerable to repression and discrimination.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, activists continue to be
the target of executions, torture, death threats, harassment, arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention in many
parts of the world, and increasingly face considerable obstacles to the registration of their organisations and
to their financial operability. The criminalization of human rights defenders’ activities in national laws as
well as their public stigmatisation and defamation by portraying their activities as dangerous, illegal or a
threat to the security of the state is, according to the Special Rapporteur’s report issued in December 20092,
on the rise in several countries. These threats and violations stem not only from states but also from non-state
actors such as guerrillas, private militias and other armed groups, sometimes working in collusion with state
authorities and in most cases, in a climate of impunity.
In order to respond to their challenges and needs, the specific objectives of this Call for Proposals will be 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.
Assistance to human rights defenders under this Call will therefore have as main priorities:
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.
2 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/defenders/docs/A.HRC.13.22.pdf
Call for Proposals 2010 – EuropeAid/129204/C/ACT/Multi − Guidelines for Grant Applicants
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes: 3 September 2010

Partners
Under this Call for Proposals, applicants must act in partnership with at least one local partner (be it formal
or informal) from the countries where the action is going to take place.
Exceptionally, however, where an applicant considers that a partnership is not feasible or appropriate due to
the specific constraints of the proposed action, it must provide duly justified reasons, which will be examined
in the context of the evaluation.
The specific role and the involvement of the partners in the implementation of the action will be explicitly
evaluated at Concept Note and Full Application stage (see Evaluation Grids in section 2.3 of the present
Guidelines).
The difference between formal and informal partners is explained under section 2.1.2.
Activities
All actions must include as a specific activity the provision of direct financial and material support to
human rights defenders. The inclusion of this provision and its significance in relation to the rest of the
action will be specifically evaluated at Concept Note and Full Application stage (see Evaluation Grids in
section 2.3 of the present Guidelines). Applicants are reminded that partners, formal or informal, can also
provide direct support to defenders, as they are co-implementing agents of the action.
Other types of activities eligible under this Call for Proposals include:
• The provision of long-term emergency-response services, including the appointment of regional
focal points, and the development of a capacity to transfer and re-house human rights defenders;
• The provision of specific training in security and protection for human rights defenders, including
the provision of relevant material and equipment, as well as any other type of preventive activities
aimed at ensuring the protection and security of human rights defenders;
• The provision of medical and psychological assistance, legal counselling and any other type of
support to human rights defenders, including to those placed in detention or in prison, as well as to
their relatives’, including activities aimed at preventing or denouncing cases of torture and illtreatment
exerted against detained defenders;
• The preparation, publication and dissemination of reports on the situation of human rights defenders;
• The reinforcement and coordination of advocacy, sensitisation and lobbying capacities of local
human rights organisations and individuals in the promotion and respect of human rights before
relevant stakeholders in their countries, such as the media, national authorities, regional and
international human rights institutions;
• Trial monitoring;
• Prison visits;
• Capacity-building activities in the field of human rights, including advocacy, lobbying, on strategies
of change, researching, documenting and writing about violations of human rights and the fight
against impunity, in particular with a view of transmitting them to international fora, such as the UN
Human Rights Council and its Special Procedures, etc;
• Language and informatics courses to improve the defenders’ possibilities to develop links with
international stakeholders;
• Monitoring and international investigative and solidarity missions (visits to countries);
• Training and awareness-building of human rights defenders, in particular of those living outside the
capitals and in remote areas, on international law as well as of international, regional and national
mechanisms for the protection of defenders, including the EU Guidelines on human rights defenders;
• The participation of human rights defenders in international and regional initiatives, conferences,
etc;
• Assistance and consolidation of the capacities of human rights defenders who are outside their
country of work on a temporary basis for security reasons or until their return to that country is
possible and safe.
Call for Proposals 2010 – EuropeAid/129204/C/ACT/Multi − Guidelines for Grant Applicants
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes: 3 September 2010

• Activities aimed at reinforcing the capacities of specialised actors (NGOs, local authorities, etc.) to
host human rights defenders who are outside their country of work for security reasons (shelter
cities, etc.).
This list of activities is not exhaustive.
Furthermore, all actions must aim at obtaining sustainable results in order to achieve ongoing impact beyond
the duration of EIDHR funding. In particular, actions must include activities, aimed at increasing financial,
management and organisational capacities of local human rights defenders’ organisations, in particular
grass-root groups in rural or remote areas to ensure the continuation of their work in the long term e.g.
training on engagement with donors and fundraising, project cycle management (PCM) and grant proposals
writing, sound project financial management, organisational management, etc. The inclusion of such
activities will be specifically evaluated at Full Application stage (see Evaluation Grid in section 2.3 of the
present Guidelines).
Target groups under this Call for Proposals will be human rights defenders, including their families, in the
wide sense of the word. Actions in support of groups of defenders who are considered to be in particularly
vulnerable situations, as described above, will be highly valued and will be specifically evaluated at Full
Application stage (see Evaluation Grid in section 2.3 of the present Guidelines).
Expected results of the actions include:
• Increased financial, material and other forms of support available to human rights defenders, both to
respond to situations of urgent need and to contribute to their work in the longer-term;
• Timely and responsive mechanisms and capacities to provide protection to defenders at risk;
• Increased awareness of the need of and of strategies aimed at the protection and security of
defenders;
• Enhanced advocacy and lobbying capacities of human rights defenders’ organisations and
individuals;
• Enhanced capacities of human rights defenders’ organisations and individuals to monitor, report and
combat human rights violations and their impunity in their region;
• Stronger networking among civil society organisations committed to the support of human rights
defenders on a regional and a global scale;
• Increased capacities of human rights organisations at grass-root level, particularly those living in
remote and rural areas, to guarantee their financial and organisational sustainability in the medium
and long-term;
• Increased national and international awareness among human rights organisations of international
mechanisms of protection and promotion of human rights, including the EU Guidelines on human
rights defenders.
The proposed actions should be designed to produce specific results in response to clearly identified
problems affecting human rights defenders and other related constraints (social, economic and political).
Such results may sometimes refer to clearly measurable outputs, but they may also relate to the avoidance of
a situation that could have occurred without the specific intervention.
It is thus necessary to set clear objectives based on specifically tailored strategies and intervention
methodologies that incorporate complementary, consistent activities suitable for tackling the identified
problems directly.
Applicants are asked to ensure that the action foresees the necessary human, financial and material resources
for the implementation of the activities in their overall budgets.
Call for Proposals 2010 – EuropeAid/129204/C/ACT/Multi − Guidelines for Grant Applicants
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes: 3 September 2010

Coordination
Proposals must include human and financial resources for the attendance of two representatives of the
beneficiary organisation at one coordination meeting per year organised by the European Commission in
Brussels.