A/HRC/22/22
for the period 2011-2012, the secretariat for the Special Fund conducted an extensive
evaluation of those 25 projects, taking into consideration the outcome of informal
consultations with members of the Subcommittee, in February 2012. The evaluation
process has been done in close collaboration with OHCHR field presences, and field visits
to eligible applicants have been conducted by OHCHR or United Nations Development
Programme staff.
7.
In the evaluation of projects, priority consideration was given to projects submitted
by States parties and national preventive mechanisms. In those cases in which a project was
submitted by a non-governmental organization, particular attention was paid to the
implementation of the project in collaboration and partnership with States parties and
national preventive mechanisms. In some cases, applicants were encouraged to implement
the projects with the national preventive mechanism.
8.
Nine projects encompassing a wide range of activities, in accordance with the
Subcommittee recommendations, that address the prevention of torture in Benin, Honduras,
Maldives, Mexico and Paraguay, were approved and grants awarded. The total amount of
grants awarded was $166,977. Please refer to the annex for further information on the
approved projects.
9.
The remaining 16 projects were rejected by the Grants Committee for not meeting
the thematic selection criteria established by the guidelines for applications for the period
2011-2012.
E.
Call for applications 2013
10.
A new call for applications to the Special Fund was published on 15 August 2012
and closed on 15 October 2012. For this call, thematic priorities per country were identified
by the Subcommittee during its seventeenth session, held in Geneva from 18 to 22 June
2012. In addition, projects addressing any other specific recommendation in the visit
reports that detailed a pressing and compelling need could be considered.
11.
Under this call, eligible projects were to be aimed at implementing
recommendations made by the Subcommittee after a visit to a State party, provided those
recommendations were contained in a report that had become public by the request of the
State party. Therefore, the countries able to respond to this call were: Benin, Brazil,
Honduras, Maldives, Mexico, Paraguay and Sweden.
12.
As in the previous cycle, applications could be submitted by States parties and
national preventive mechanisms. In addition, applications could be submitted by national
human rights institutions, if compliant with the principles relating to the status of national
institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles), and nongovernmental organizations, if the proposed projects were to be implemented in
cooperation with States parties and/or national preventive mechanisms.
13.
Applicants could request grants of up to $50,000 for project activities to be
implemented between 1 January and 31 December 2013. OHCHR, as fund manager,
reserves the right to earmark part of a grant to specific budget lines.
14.
A total of 34 applications were received, out of which 4 were considered
inadmissible under the geographic eligibility criteria (that is, projects aiming at the
implementation of recommendations made by the Subcommittee following a visit to a State
party, provided those recommendations are contained in a report that has become public by
the request of the State party). The 30 applications deemed admissible (those submitted
within the deadline and in which the geographic eligibility criteria were met) concern six of
3
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents