<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>In 2025, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will once again allocate up to 484,000 euros in subsidies for the promotion of human rights at the national level or in the “international sphere of interest to Spain”, the same amount that has been granted since 2021 and much higher than that of the 2012-2020 period and even that of the previous “golden age”.</strong></h4> According to a resolution of the State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, published this Tuesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and signed on March 6 by the director of the Office of the aforementioned State Secretary, María Luisa Benítez-Donoso Tarascón, the beneficiaries of these subsidies will be “legally constituted private entities, non-profit, based in Spain, that have previous experience accredited in human rights activities or whose objectives are the dissemination, promotion or protection of human rights”. The objective of the call, the resolution continues, is “to contribute to the development, improvement of knowledge and strengthening of human rights, through the implementation of projects independent of the current operation of the entity, at a national or international level, of interest to Spain”. When granting the subsidies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will preferentially value those projects that have an impact on one of the following areas: fight against the death penalty, the fight against racism, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance; rights of people with disabilities, businesses and human rights, economic, social and cultural rights; human rights to drinking water and sanitation, human rights defenders, non-discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and gender identity; children's rights, rights of victims of terrorism, human trafficking and information technologies, artificial intelligence and human rights. The maximum amount will be 484,000 euros, distributed among all applicants who are beneficiaries. The maximum amount of the subsidy awarded may not exceed 20,000 euros. This amount is the same as that which has been awarded since 2021, when the Ministry decided to exceed by 265% the 175,371.69 euros offered in 2020. Between 2007 and 2011, the maximum amount of subsidies for activities to promote human rights was 350,000 euros, but in 2012 (in the midst of the Spanish Risk Premium crisis), the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs reduced this amount by 47% and, from then until 2019, it remained at 184,000 euros. In 2020, after the first wave of COVID-19, it was reduced by 9%. In the previous edition, 91 initiatives were selected, including the projects ‘Promotion and protection of human rights of people with albinism (PCA) in Mozambique’, by the África Directo Foundation, with 16,000 euros; ‘Seeds of rights: promotion of human rights’, by the State Coordinator of Salesian Social Platforms, with 12,000 euros; and ‘Making visible the persecution directed towards women and feminist organizations that defend the rights of women and girls in Nicaragua to promote their demands for truth and justice’, by the Guernica Center for International Justice, with 11,999.88 euros.
