Over the past few months, ECF has been enhancing the work on the protection of civil society and human rights defenders across Europe, including through the Net4Defenders project. As civic space continues to face growing challenges, strengthening advocacy, coordination, and support mechanisms is one of our key priorities.
On 12 February, we organised a capacity building and discussion session on civic space, the projection of human rights defenders, and different policy options. This session provided an opportunity to exchange insights, align strategic priorities, and discuss collective advocacy efforts. As part of this session, we presented the Net4Defenders project and its alignment with ECF’s advocacy work. Kersty McCourt, coordinator of Civil Society Europe’s consortium on EU-level protection mechanisms, introduced the report and mapping paper, Realising Protection for Human Rights Defenders and Civil Society Organisations in Europe, followed by an exchange on key gaps in policy and options to enhance protection mechanisms in the EU.
In February, three workshops on holistic protection were organised as part of the Net4Defenders project. These workshops, hosted by the coordinator of the Net4Defenders project, NOVACT, and SIRA (Centre for Attention to Victims of Ill-Treatment and Torture), helped create a common understanding of holistic protection and laid the groundwork for establishing holistic protection hubs in the five pilot countries of the project: France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, and Poland. These hubs will serve as focal points for coordinated support, fostering solidarity and collaboration among HRDs and protection organisations.
Through Net4Defenders, ECF is working to strengthen coordination, address fragmentation, and adopt a proactive approach to protecting civic space in Europe. In addition to the protection hubs, a key component of this effort is the development of a cross-European database of protection organisations and providers, which will be hosted on ECF’s Civic Space Watch webpage.
Our previous work has consistently highlighted the urgent need for increased funding and stronger national-level protection systems. Additionally, a major gap remains between the EU’s internal and external protection frameworks. Bridging these gaps will be central to our advocacy efforts this year. Stay tuned for more updates on the project!