Security Grants Programme
Front Line Defenders Security Grants can pay for organisational and personal provisions to improve the security and protection of a Human Rights Defenders and their organisation. Grants can pay to improve physical security of an organisation, digital security, communication security, legal fees for HRDs who are being judicially harassed. They can pay for medical fees for HRDs who have been attacked or who have suffered a medical condition as a result of their peaceful human rights activities. We can also provide family assistance for imprisoned HRDs. Grants are for amounts up to a maximum of €6,000. We fund emergency and general security grants.
YOU CAN SUBMIT YOUR ENCRYPTED SECURITY GRANT APPLICATION ON LINE HERE
Guidelines to Apply for Front Line Defenders Security Grant
Chechyna: A security grant was issued to Doveriye, a Chechen-based NGO which provides assistance to single women, widows and persons with disabilities. The grant paid for the temporary relocation of Gistam Sakaeva, a WHRD based in Chechnya who has been targeted by the authorities as a result of her human rights work.
Belarus: A grant worth €2,270 EUR was provided to a human rights organisation and paid for a metal door, video intercoms, dicta-phones and shredder.
Uzbekistan: A grant was issued to a HRD just released from prison. It paid for medical treatment and transport.
India: A grant of €1,349 was issued to Kiran (Banothu Usha) – Salaam Initiative. This grant was for legal fees and relocation costs for an LGBT HRD and his partner, who were forced to flee as a result of threats from their local community.
Pakistan:A grant of €4,986 EUR was awarded to a WHRD to pay for barbed wire to secure the perimeter of their house, construction of security hut, 6 search lights for the premises, 3 room coolers, 6 emergency lights and a CCTV system.
DRC: 39 grants were provided to human rights defenders in DRC in 2012. A number of these grants were to WHRDs working on the promotion and protection of the rights of women and children in rural areas who had been victims of gender based violence. The security grants paid for them to travel to urban areas to access medical care.
Uganda: We issued a grant worth €1,484 EUR for safe transport and communication for 90 days for a LGBTI HRD in Kampala.
Egypt: €2,095 Safe transport for 18 WHRDs working in Northern Sinai region. These women were civil society activists from the provinces and were attending a public conference. Travel in the region is dangerous, particularly for women human rights defenders, who are subjected to threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups. In June, a grant was given to the same organisation for the installation of iron gates, 2 mobile phones with GPS for communication between their security team and the field team and a contribution towards vehicle hire for field staff. The organisation had reported that three members had received direct threats by telephone and that Islamic slogans and pictures had been written/posted on the headquarters, accusing the activists of blasphemy.
Brazil:We issued a grant of €5,185 to three indigenous members of CEDHOR (Center for Human Rights Archbishop Oscar Romero), for the installation of security gates and communication equipment in their homes. They had been facing reprisals for their work against the appropriation of lands by mill owners to plant sugar cane. The human rights defenders reported an increased sense of security, allowing them to remain in their communities.
Guatemala:€6,000 EUR, this grant is to for urgent surgery medical fees for 9 HRDs who sustained injuries after they were shot at indiscriminately by members of the Guatemalan Military and Police during a peaceful protest on 4 October 2012. All HRDs are members of Junta directiva fo la alcaldia communal des los 48 cantones de Totonicicpan.
These are examples only. We ask you to apply for what you need to ensure the protection of human rights defenders at risk.
Front Line Defenders does not provide funding for- Retrospective funding;
- International organisations;
- Organisations that have applied or are already receiving funding for the same purpose elsewhere;
- Projects which focus on broader human rights issues rather than the specific situation of human rights defenders.
- Costs for human rights defenders who are already in exile
- Ongoing office running costs such as salaries and rent
- Armed security guards
- Purchase of vehicles
Security and Protection Grants will not normally be made for 100% of the cost of a project. Applications may be made in Arabic, Russian, English, French or Spanish. Applications are considered by Front Line Defenders Board of Trustees on a quarterly basis. After submitting an application, an organisation is likely to be contacted by a member of Front Line Defenders staff with questions to clarify the application. Lobbying in support of applications is not encouraged. All applicants will receive a written response whether or not their application is successful.
Groups or individual human rights defenders receiving grants are required to submit a short written report of no more than 500 words, and include copies of all the original receipts, on completion of their project. If for any reason a project does not go ahead, or gets alternative funding, the grant must be returned to Front Line and cannot be reallocated for other work. Front Line Defenders may check that the same grant has not already been funded by other international funders. If a report, including all original receipts is not received on completion of the grant the applicant will no longer be eligible for any further grants and will be asked to return the funding.
Security and Protection Grant Application Form
You can submit an application for a Front Line Defenders Security Grant by answering the following questions and sending in your application form to the address below.
- Contact details of the applicant, and must include full name, organisation, address of organisation, phone number and email, and the name of the person accountable to Front Line for the organisation.
- What security risks are you facing and why?
- What do you want to do and how would the proposed grant make a difference to your security and reduce the risks you face?
- What results do you expect? Is there a way to measure whether it has made a difference? (this will be what we expect to be covered in your report on the grant in addition to original receipts for purchases)
- Give a breakdown of costs and an explanation of how costs have been arrived at. Where items are to be purchased please send quotes for items. Front Line Defenders may ask to see several quotes and/or may propose making the purchase elsewhere and sending the items
- Give a concise outline of your group/organisation to include its aims, previous activities, membership, organisational structure, financial structure, work with other groups or networks. If you are in contact with Front Line for the first time please give contact details (name, organisation, phone, email) for at least two referees who are well known within the human rights community in your country or internationally.
- Name and contact details of two reference organisations, who know your human rights work and the risks and threats that you face as a result of your activities.
Applications can be sent by post, email or fax to:
Front Line Defenders
The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Second Floor,
Grattan House, Temple Road, Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland
Telephone: +353 1 212 3750
Fax: +353 1 212 1001
www.frontlinedefenders.org
Tel: + 353 1 212 3750
Fax: +353 1 212 1001
Alternative Sources of Funding
Human Rights Watch / Hellman-Hammett Grants
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression / Journalists in Distress Fund
International Federation of Journalists / Safety Fund
International Press Institute / Press Freedom Fund
Reporters sans Frontieres / Solidarity Fund
Media Institute for Southern Africa / SADC Journalists Under Fire Fund
World Press Freedom Committee / Fund against Censorship
Grants for Women
Open Society Institute - Women’s Program
UN Trust Fund to eliminate violence against women
The African Women’s Development Fund
Grants for Sexual Minorities
Astraea's International Fund for Sexual Minorities
Freedom House Dignity for All: LGBTI Assistance Program
Grants for Children's Rights work
Grants for prisoners of conscience
Prisoner of Conscience Appeal Fund
Grants per Country/Region
East & Horn of Africa – East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP)
Euro-Med – Euro Meditteranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders (EMHRF)
The Phoenix Fund for Workers & Communities (USA/Mexico)
Grants from Governments/Regional Institutions
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry
The Norwegian Human Rights Fund
Official Development Assistance (Japan)
British Department for International Development (United Kingdom)
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) (France)
United Nations Funds
United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture
United Nations Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery
United Nations Voluntary fund for Indigenous Populations
Grants from other organisations and foundations
Open Society Institute & Soros Foundations Network
Ignacio Martin Baro Fund for Mental Health and Human Rights
KIOS – The Finnish Foundation for Human Rights (Finland)
The Fund for Global Human Rights
The Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme
The Norwegian Human Rights Fund (NHRF)
Awards
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
Rights & Democracy/ Humphrey Award
Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
Reebok Human Rights Award Program
Ginnetta Sagan Award for Women
The Gleitsman Foundation International Activist Award
Fellowships & Scholarships
Scholar Rescue Fund Fellowships
Hamburg Foundation for the Politically Persecuted
Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the National Endowment for Democracy
International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN)
Directories of Funders
Example - Security Grant - Elisabeth Lukalu - DRC: In May 2011, Front Line Defenders awarded a grant to WHRD Elisabeth LUKALU for her and her 8 children to relocate temporarily to Burundi and for the Elisabeth to receive specialist medical care there. Elisabeth is a member of the human rights organisation AMCAV based Kagando, near Uvira in Eastern DRC. She is a widow and has 8 children. On 14 April 2011, two men armed with machetes broke into her home and attacked the WHRD. Elisabeth sustained serious injuries, the men cut three fingers from her right hand and two fingers from her left hand. Elisabeth and her children went into hiding in the bush until they were assisted by a friend who carried her to the nearest medical clinic. It is believed that Elisabeth was targeted as a result of her peaceful human rights work.
More video reports on the Front Line Defenders Security Grants Programme
'Security grants in an emergency situation: an application will be considered on an emergency basis where the applicant can show that the provision of the grant will contribute to addressing immediate threats to the lives or well-being of one or more human rights defenders. If the application falls within Front Line Defenders criteria for the provision of emergency funding for human rights defenders at imminent risk then small grants can be approved within 48 hours at the discretion of the Director. Please get in touch with our office directly.Our 24-hour emergency phone no. for human rights defenders is +353 12100489 etc Click here to contact Front Line emergency line
