EU-Malaysia Call for Proposals: EIDHR – Country based Support Schemes

Deadline: 22 April 2019

The European Union (EU) is currently accepting proposals from eligible organisations for a program entitled “European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) – Country based Support Schemes – Malaysia”.

The global objective of this call for proposals is to contribute to the respect for fundamental rights and the consolidation of the rule of law in Malaysia.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to strengthen the role and capacity of local civil society organisations in promoting political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights.

To achieve the mentioned objectives, the project proposals have to address at least one of the priorities below:

Priority A: Encourage Malaysia to ratify the outstanding core international human rights conventions and to lift any relevant reservations to these instruments. Special attention could be given to the Convention against Torture (UNCAT) and the International Convention on the elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), as well as the withdrawal of reservation to the Convention on the rights of the Child (CRC) and the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW).
Priority B: Enhance and promote equality and non-discrimination in the enjoyment of all human rights by decriminalising and abolish discriminatory laws and policies, especially against the LGBTI community, existing in Malaysia. The LGBTI community continues to face serious discrimination in Malaysia, with same-sex relationships being criminalised and subjected to severe punishments.
Priority C: Encourage the Government to fulfil its promise to abolish the Death Penalty; The Malaysian Cabinet has announced the decision to abolish the death penalty in its entirety. However, no legislative proposal to that effect has been tabled and the public debate continues with a number of vocal supporters of death penalty.

Size of Grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

minimum amount: EUR 200 000
maximum amount: EUR 300 000

Eligibility Criteria

Lead applicant
- In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
  - be a legal person and
  - be a civil society organisation, including non-governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations, community-based organisations and private-sector agencies, institutions and organisations and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level or
  - be a public-sector non profit-agencies, institutions and organisations and networks at local, national, regional and international level or
  - international and regional inter-governmental organisations and
  - be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary
- The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s) as specified hereafter:
  - Lead applicants established in Malaysia may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
  - Lead applicant that is not established in Malaysia must act together with at least one co-applicant established in Malaysia.
  - Lead applicant that is an international or regional intergovernmental organisation must act together with at least one co-applicant established in Malaysia.
Co-applicant(s)
- Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
- Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
- If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) (if any) will become beneficiary(ies) in the action (together with the coordinator)
Affiliated entity(ies)
- The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies).
- Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
  - Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
  - This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
    - Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      - Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        
        Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
        
        Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
        
        Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
    - Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.