The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture is accepting project proposal aimed at providing direct assistance to victims of torture and their family members.

The Fund was established in 1981 by the General Assembly to focus global attention on the needs of torture victims.  The Fund’s aim is to help victims and their families to rebuild their lives and to seek redress for the human rights violations they have suffered.

• victims of torture and intersecting discrimination (focus on indigenous peoples, minorities, LGBTI persons, persons with disabilities, women and girls and victims of genderbased violence);
• human rights defenders working under restrictive or retaliatory measures, including reprisals due to collaboration with the United Nations, subjected to acts of torture;
• victims of excessive use of force by law enforcement and security forces amounting to acts of torture, in particular in the context of protests (focus on young people, political opponents, people combating racial discrimination and migrants in pushback operations);
• persons deprived of liberty impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Organizations addressing the specific needs of victims of torture falling under the thematic priorities outlined above are particularly encouraged to apply.

• Applications from all regions will be accepted. All applications should be submitted in English, French or Spanish.
• Only applications by civil society organizations and other channels of assistance (for example, hospitals and professional associations) (hereafter organizations) are admissible. Applications by governmental, parliamentary or administrative entities, political parties or national liberation movements are inadmissible.
• Projects aiming to establish a new organization are inadmissible. Organizations should be in operation for at least one year before submitting an application to the Fund.
• For the purpose of the present Guidelines, the Fund distinguishes between the following categories of applicant organizations:
  • First-time applicants: organizations which have never applied to the Fund;
  • Returning applicants: organizations which applied to the Fund, divided into two sub-categories:
    • organizations which have never received a grant;
    • organizations which have received a grant from the Fund in the past but not in the previous year(s);
  • On-going applicants: organizations which are currently receiving a grant (direct assistance, capacity building or emergency) from the Fund, divided in two subcategories:
    • organizations submitting a continuation of a funded project proposal in the same country of implementation;
    • organizations 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 OHCHR.