Civil society support and funding in the area of fundamental rights, the rule of law and democracy

Key points

The EESC:

• reasserts the key role played by CSOs in democracy, and regrets that EU support does not match the centrality of their role and responsibilities;
• supports setting up a financial instrument specifically dedicated to CSOs working on human rights and democracy within the EU, equivalent to the EIDHR available for extra-EU activities;
• supports the establishment of a platform similar to "Protect Defenders" for human rights defenders working in EU Member States, and encourages the European Commission to set up an alert and monitoring to deal with CSOs' challenges and threats;
• proposes updating the European Commission Rule of Law Report methodology to highlight the role of CSOs in safeguarding the rule of law, and the responsibility of Member States to address obstacles in that regard. The EESC encourages the EC to integrate the findings of its Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law (FRRL) Group country visits reports in its methodology;
• underlines the need to consider appropriate ways to address the precarity of work in the CSO sector active in the area of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, drawing attention to job security, the well-being of CSO workers and the associated financial stability of their organisations;
• welcomes the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values program (CERV), and calls for:
• the increase of its funding capacity and flexibility;
• a switch from project-based to operational funding;
• lower co-funding requirements;
• addressing disproportionate administrative burden around fundraising.