CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Financial Partnerships for Litigation Workshops

REDRESS is inviting applications for financial partnerships to support litigation workshops, particularly addressing torture in the context of protests and discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons.

Priority will be given to applications from Africa and Latin America, but strong applications from other regions will be considered. This support is through the United Against Torture Consortium, which is funded by the European Union.    

This call for applications will support litigation workshops specifically aimed at challenging torture against protesters, and LGBTIQ+ persons. 

Litigation workshops are a human rights method through which civil society groups can brainstorm individual cases of strategic litigation, share experiences, and produce a concrete litigation plan. REDRESS has further developed this methodology in the anti-torture field with guidance on litigation workshops that can be adopted and modified to the context. Applicants are encouraged to review the Practice Note: Facilitating Litigation Workshops, which provides guidance on what works best to assist those facilitating this type of workshop, both online and in person. Facilitators are free to try out other styles and methods, as well as to adapt these guidelines to the specific context they are working in.

The Context

Across the globe, torture is used to silence those who dissent or to further oppress marginalised and excluded minorities. The use and threat of torture against human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, protesters, or others who dissent closes civil society space, creating an atmosphere of fear that makes it even more difficult to hold governments to account. 

Discriminatory torture against women, the LGBTIQ+ community, refugees, migrants, and those facing multiple forms of discrimination also remains a concerning feature across the world, alongside structural inequalities and discrimination that may hinder these groups’ access to justice. 

Information on Financial Support

  • Under this call for applications, you can apply for financial support up to €7,000 Euros 
  • No individual project will be supported for longer than 6 months   
  • Recipients will need to produce receipts for all costs claimed 
  • Recipients can include an overhead fee of 7% to cover the time needed to administer the financial partnership 
  • Priority will be given to applications from Africa and Latin America, but strong applications from other regions will be considered 

Eligibility Criteria

This call for applications is primarily aimed at anti-torture non-governmental organisations.

To be considered an applicant must:

  • Be a legally registered or constituted organisation 
  • Be a not-for-profit, NGO, charitable organisation or law firm undertaking torture cases  
  • Have proof of incorporation or registration with the relevant national authority 
  • Have a mandate and experience relating to challenging torture 

What we are not able to support:

  • Workshops that are not focused on challenging torture in the context of protests or discriminatory torture against LGBTIQ+ persons.
  • Core funding in the form of ongoing support of applicants’ operational or organisational costs such as wages and salaries, office items and communications.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Please note, four awards are available. If suitable applicants are identified before the deadline, we may close the application window earlier. 

Application Review Cycle

Step  What you can expect 
Application Received  These will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 
Initial Review  We will review the application form and budget and let you know if we can take the application forward. 
Review Process  Applications will be looked at more carefully. Applicants may need to provide supporting documentation. There will also be a due diligence process to assess the capacity of the organisation to deliver the work. We will communicate to applicants who do not pass the review process and provide feedback on both the application and the due diligence assessment outcome. 
Final Decision and Contract  We will contact successful applicants after which the funds will be disbursed. 

How to Apply

Download and fill out the Application Form and Budget Template, then email them to [email protected].

The application window is 14 October – 29 November 2024.

Download Applicant Documents:

Application Form   Budget Template

About the United Against Torture Consortium

The United Against Torture Consortium brings together the global memberships of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) and the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT) with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Omega Research Foundation, and REDRESS.  The consortium works in partnership with national civil society organisations and other partners worldwide to build a global movement to eradicate torture. The consortium will achieve its aims through several means, including by fostering survivor engagement; mobilising and empowering civil society anti-torture actors; strengthening legal protections on the prohibition of torture; strengthening strategic litigation in torture cases, and responding to crisis situations to empower and accompany local anti-torture and human rights groups.

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