The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)^[1] was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in December 2006. This new instrument takes the place of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, which was created at the initiative of the European Parliament in 1994. The entry into force of this specific instrument on 1 January 2007 makes it possible to give financial support for activities to strengthen democracy and the human rights in the world under the 2007-2013 financial perspectives.

The general objectives of the new instrument are to contribute to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms within the framework of the Community’s policy on development cooperation and economic, financial and technical cooperation with third countries, consistent with the European Union’s foreign policy as a whole. This instrument is designed to help civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defence of human rights. In doing this, it will complement the new generation of geographical programmes, which will focus on public institution-building.

To implement the new instrument the European Commission has adopted multiannual strategy paper which set out in detail the thematic and any geographical priorities.

The 2007-2010 strategy paper sets out five specific EIDHR objectives:

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 new instrument is global in scope. It operates at national, regional and international levels and supports actions carried out in third countries throughout the world, and also in Member States if relevant to needs in third countries.

Annual Action Programme 2007 (AAP), based on the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights strategy paper, was adopted on 4 December 2007.

The Annual Action Programme is implemented via a number of calls for proposals, either global ones launched by Brussels, or local ones launched by the EC Delegations.

For global calls for proposals, please, consult the web-site:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl.

For local calls for proposals, please, consult either the web-site of the EC Delegation to Ukraine and Belarus (www.delukr.ec.europa.eu) or http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl.

Currently one local Call for Proposals is open (until 7 April 2008) for Ukrainian civil society actors, with the aim of selecting actions concerning strengthening the role of civil society of common agendas for human rights and democratic reform and enhancing political representation and participation. This call for proposals will be implemented through country-based support schemes (CBSS) for concerted action on local democracy and human rights issues of particular concern.

As far as previous EIDHR programmes are concerned, currently 33 EIDHR projects from EIDHR programmes 2004, 2005 and 2006 totaled to about 3,7 million € are implemented in Ukraine and Belarus, being managed by the EC Delegation to Ukraine and Belarus.

More detailed information about the Programme could be found at:

http://www.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/worldwide/eidhr/index_en.htm.

[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/where/worldwide/eidhr/working-documents_en.htm).