Brussels, 24/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 September, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) requested that the EU funds for fighting torture and capital punishment in the world be better targeted.
“Projects receiving EU support are having an impact, but too often they are not well targeted and have limited scope because funding is thinly spread”, the ECA states in a press release.
Over the 2007-2013 period, the European Commission granted 183 subsidies to NGOs for a total of €100.9 million under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). The subsidies were for projects related to the fight against torture and abolition of the death penalty. “EU funding in this area is only modest and is spread thinly around the world, so the money available has to be spent effectively”, the ECA states.
The auditors focused on 31 projects, assessing how the funding was allocated and whether sustainable results were achieved. They found that while funding was generally well allocated, the Commission did not take sufficient account of the human rights priorities for each country. “Projects were often not well coordinated with other EU action, such as development support and political dialogue”, the ECA states, calling for an improvement in coordination. The auditors also state that projects were generally implemented by motivated organisations with good expertise, but their selection lacked rigour - and this needs to be improved. There are 58 countries that still have the death penalty. Over 5,000 people are executed every year.