Security Grants Programme
Front Line Defenders Security and Protection Grants can pay for provisions to improve the security and protection of a Human Rights Defender and their organisation and can pay to improve 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
Examples of grants provided
Serbia: €800.00 for secure transport to meetings and to court by taxi for a human rights defender.
Belarus: €1316 for steel door, intercom system and surveillance cameras for human rights organisation.
Colombia: €3840 for rest and respite for a woman human rights defender.
India: €1500 for legal fees for 5 human rights defenders.
Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): €1278 for the the temporary relocation for 3 months of a woman human rights defender and her family following threats from an armed opposition group.
Middle East: €3800, setting up a safe house for journalists and human rights defenders at risk due to their human rights work
Uzbekistan: €522, medical fees paid to five human rights defenders.
Central America: €5540 for communication and radio system, to help a LGBTI organisation communicate with members and to contact the police.
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
Grants for Journalists & Writers
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
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
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
