Supporting Civil Society
«Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.»
Bob Marley
«Anyone working in a human rights organization knows that we are dependent on one another. Over several decades, we have created a resilient civil society network. When one of us is in trouble, we all step up to help.»
Inna Sangadzhieva, Director for Europe and Central Asia
When we support others, we multiply our efforts to strengthen respect for human rights. However, it is also about growing and learning. By helping NGOs in other countries realize their ideas and initiatives, we are working with the best experts in the field. These people truly understand the country because it is their home. Moreover, these people are on the front lines of human rights, sometimes under massive risk.
The NHC supports local projects and initiatives across Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Our support varies in range and size and is tailored to handle reality on the ground. Human rights activists in Ukraine and Tajikistan work towards the same goal: Respect for human rights and democracy. However, they face a different set of challenges. The former works in a war zone, and the latter is in a dictatorship.
Project support is a core focus for the NHC and feeds into all our other work. When we address governments and international delegations, there is a reason why our information holds such high credibility. We have exclusive access, thanks to our project partners in the field.
Over the past year, we have supported organizations monitoring and documenting war crimes in Donbas. We have supported work to promote women’s rights in the volatile Pamir mountains of Tajikistan and groups monitoring conditions in police stations in northern Armenia’s Lori region. In total, we supported 47 projects devoted to civil society development, 28 projects supporting equal rights and 13 to documentation of human rights violations across the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) region.
Since 2006, the NHC has run an annual Small Grants Program dedicated to Central Asia. The need for massive support is evidenced by the number of applications received and the fact that the announcement often becomes the most visited article on our webpage in the year.
Some of our most important and exciting projects are the ones we cannot talk about. Their aim is the same as all our other projects. Tragically, in some parts of the world, the mere mention of human rights is seen as an affront and human rights defenders as the enemy.