Deadline: 1st March 24

The Secretariat of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (UNVFVT) has launched the call for applications for 2025 .

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The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (hereafter referred to as the Fund) was created in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Its mandate is to receive "voluntary contributions for distribution, through established channels of assistance, as aid humanitarian legal and financial assistance to individuals whose human rights have been seriously violated as a result of torture and to the relatives of such victims. "The Fund fulfils its mandate by awarding grants to organisations civil society around the world to implement projects aimed at providing services to victims of torture and their families. The Fund receives voluntary contributions from states and private organisations.

The Fund is managed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on behalf of the Secretary-General and operates in accordance with the United Nations Financial Rules and Regulations. The Fund's Secretariat is made up of staff, fellows and interns from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), based in Geneva, Switzerland .

A Board of Trustees (hereafter the Board), made up of independent experts representing the five geographical regions, advises the High Commissioner on the administration of the Fund, including recommendations on the allocation of grants.

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Types of subsidies

• The Fund awards three types of grants to civil society organisations:
  • Direct assistance subsidies (annual): direct assistance grants range from US$ 30,000 to US$ 100,000. Only "ongoing applicant" organisations submitting a proposal to continue a funded project in the same country of implementation may receive a grant in excess of US $50,000. Direct assistance grants for categories of "first-time" or "returning" applicant organisations may not exceed US$ 50,000.
  • (Annual) subsidies for training: Capacity-building grants cannot exceed US$ 50,000 for all categories of applicant organisations (first-time, returning and ongoing).
  • Emergency subsidies: Emergency grants may not exceed US$ 100,000.

Duration

• Direct assistance and capacity-building grants (annual grants) cover the implementation of projects during a given 12-month calendar year (1 January to 31 December).
• Applicants for emergency grants can be submitted and awarded at any time during the year. They can cover a maximum period of 12 months and cannot be renewed or extended.

Who can apply?

• The UN General Assembly has mandated the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to distribute voluntary contributions to victims of torture through "established channels of assistance". As a general rule, only applications submitted by civil society organisations are admissible. Applications submitted by governmental, parliamentary or administrative bodies, political parties or national liberation movements are inadmissible.

Election criteria

• Only applications submitted by civil society organisations and other channels of assistance (e.g. hospitals and professional associations) (hereinafter organisations) are admissible. Applications submitted by governmental, parliamentary or administrative bodies, political parties or national liberation movements are inadmissible.
• Projects aimed at establishing a new organisation are inadmissible. Organisations must have been in operation for at least one year before submitting an application to the Fund. The Fund may consider exceptions to this last case for organisations that have to establish a new legal entity due to obstacles or measures that prevent them from operating.
• The Fund distinguishes between the following categories of applicant organisations:
  • First-time applicants: organisations that have never received a grant from the Fund;
  • Returning applicants: organisations that have received a grant from the Fund in the past, but not in the previous year;
  • Ongoing applicants: organisations currently receiving a grant (direct assistance, training or emergency) from the Fund, divided into two subcategories:
    • organisations submitting a proposal to continue a funded project in the same country of implementation;
    • organisations submitting a different project or a different type of grant proposal (direct assistance, capacity building or emergency) in the same country of implementation, or a project in a different country of implementation.

For more information, visit Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights .

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