CFPs: Global Consortium for Death Penalty Abolition and Gender and Death Penalty Project

Deadline: 14-May-25

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) has open the call for proposals for Global Consortium for Death Penalty Abolition and Gender and Death Penalty Project.

As part of this initiative, the Consortium has committed to supporting civil society in target countries and providing financial support to third parties to move towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.

This initiative is consistent with the objectives of the World Coalition’s Gender and the Death Penalty project, funded by the Government of Canada and the French Development Agency, which also provides support to civil society in target countries.

Objectives

• Overall objective: To move towards the universal abolition of the death penalty.
• Specific objectives:
  • In retentionist countries: contributing to reducing the use of capital punishment and encouraging more transparency regarding its application. This includes contributing to reducing the number of crimes punishable by death, abolition of the mandatory death penalty, banning death sentences and executions of juveniles, increasing respect of international human rights, achieving greater transparency, reducing cruel methods of executions, raising public awareness of the discriminatory nature of the death penalty, improving fair trial rights, and the independence of the judiciary, penal reform, increased use of pardons, clemency, and commutations of death sentences to reduce the number of people on death row and the number of people executed.
  • In abolitionist in practice countries, contributing to abolishing the death penalty in law while avoiding setbacks in countries which constitute levers for the international community to develop “new frontiers of abolition”. As specific objectives for these swing countries, it will also encourage positive votes for the UNGA moratorium resolution, legislative evolutions (drafting of abolitionist law proposals, reduction of the scope of application and/or reform of the penal code) and keeping a minimum of people on death row.
  • For abolitionist in law countries: contributing to ratifications of abolitionist treaties and preventing the reintroduction of the death penalty.

Funding Information

• Grant for Drug related Research:
  • 1 grant of maximum 15,000 EUR to conduct research on donor states and/or UN agencies funding for drug law enforcement to countries that retain the death penalty for drug offences, with a focus on Asia.
• Grants for Asia:
  • 4 grants of maximum 2,500 EUR each for teams across Asia to carry out activities such as research and advocacy on the death penalty. Priority given to teams in Indonesia, Pakistan and Taiwan.
• Grants for Gender:
  • For activities aimed at making visible and combating intersectional discrimination faced by women and/or LGBTQIA+ people in the judicial process leading to the death penalty (juveniles, people with disabilities, people from disadvantaged socio-economic background). Priority will be given to projects submitted in collaboration with organizations defending the rights of women, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities and young people, as well as to projects submitted by various partners based in the same country in order to support collaborative approaches.
    • 3 grants of 5,000€: focusing in priority on data collection activities
    • 1 grant of 10,000€
    • 1 grant of 20,000€
  • Countries: Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Thailand, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Uganda and the United States. Iraq and Vietnam are also among the target countries for data collection.
• Grant for World Day 2025:
  • 2 grants of maximum 5,000 EUR each for World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2025 and national campaigns to reinforce the public knowledge on key arguments against the death penalty as well as convince new players to become new allies.
  • Priority will be given to applicants based in Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
• Grants for Ratification:
  • 1 grant of maximum 5,000 EUR for activities related to ratification of international and regional protocols on abolition of the death penalty at national level.
  • Priority will be given to applicants based in Central African Republic, Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Suriname. However, all applicants based in abolitionist countries who have yet to ratify international or regional protocols may apply.

Outputs

• Increased influence of the abolitionist movement in relevant decision-making processes/decision-making spaces
• Expanded and more diverse abolitionist ecosystem at global, regional and national level.

Eligible Activities

• Different types of activities are eligible for financial support, including :
  • advocacy at the national level in favor of abolition including advocacy with abolitionist in practice countries and abolitionist in law countries to increase visibility of support for the anti-death penalty movement;
  • building the capacities and awareness of parliamentarians, government officials and capital-defense lawyers;
  • supporting civil society engagement with international human rights mechanisms;
  • improving the conditions of detention of people on death row;
  • supporting families of persons charged with capital offences and or of people on death row;
  • strengthening the capacities of judicial and administrative authorities;
  • research and data collection;
  • documentation and litigation support;
  • building the capacity of civil society, including governance practices and project management;
  • supporting exoneree-led activities and amplifying exoneree voices.

Eligibility Criteria

• One entity may apply for one grant only.
• Types of entities/actors or categories of persons/entities/actors which may receive financial support:
  • civil society organizations (CSOs – for the purpose of this call for proposals, CSOs include all non-State, not-for-profit structures, non-partisan and non-violent, through which people organize to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic); or
  • informal networks of people opposed to the death penalty
• They should also:
  • be non-profit-making or social enterprises; and
  • have as part of their mandate the protection and promotion of human rights.

For more information, visit WCADP.