Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV) call 2026 - (2) Gender Equality

The main goals

Protect and promote the rights and values enshrined in the EU Treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and various international conventions on human rights. In practice, this means supporting and developing open, rights-based, democratic, equal and inclusive societies based on the rule of law. It also means supporting a vibrant and empowered civil society at the local, regional, national, and transnational levels, encouraging people's democratic, civic and social participation and cultivating the rich diversity of European society, based on Europe’s common values, history and memory.

(2) Equality, Rights and Gender Equality

To promote rights, non-discrimination, equality, including gender equality, and advance gender and non-discrimination mainstreaming. Projects in this area will:

• prevent and combat inequalities and discrimination on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation and respecting the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds provided for in Article 21 of the EU Charter;

• promote women’s full enjoyment of rights, gender equality, including work-life balance, women’s empowerment and gender mainstreaming;

• combat all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, afrophobia, antisemitism, anti-gypsism, anti-muslim hatred, and other forms of intolerance, including homophobia and other forms of intolerance based on gender identity both online and offline;

• protect and promote the rights of the child, awareness raising of children rights in judicial proceedings, capacity-building of child protection systems;

• protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities, for their active inclusion and full participation in society;

• tackle the challenges related to the protection of personal data and data protection reform, as well as to support the stakeholder dialogue in this area;

• support the efforts to enable people to exercise their rights as EU citizens and enforce free movement rights, as well as tackling the abuse of those rights.