Rights and democracy groups are coming under attack by populist authoritarian governments in many EU states. These governments remove or block their funding, subject them to smear campaigns and drain their resources by drowning them in bureaucracy.

At present, almost all EU support for rights and democracy groups targets organisations outside the Union. It's time that the European Union invests in protecting its own values at home.

Liberties has called for the creation of a new freedoms fund to support rights and democracy groups in Europe: the European Values Instrument.

If you support our mission to better protect civil liberties groups in Europe, please send our model email to EU decision-makers.

You can read more about the issue here.