FUNDING FUNDING FUNDS ADMINISTERED BY UN HUMAN RIGHTS Voluntary contributions in support of UN Human Rights are channelled and managed through nine trust funds and three special funds that are not trust funds as defined by the UN Financial Regulations and Rules. Additional financial information related to these funds can be found in the extrabudgetary income and expenditure report for 2018 (on pages 114-115). United Nations Trust Fund for the Support of the Activities of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights In 1993, the United Nations Trust Fund for the Support of the Activities of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was established by the Secretary-General to supplement regular budgetary resources as a general funding pool. It is the largest fund administered by UN Human Rights, through which 82.4 per cent of all extrabudgetary funds, including unearmarked funds, were managed in 2018. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights (VFTC), which was established by the Secretary-General in 1987, receives voluntary contributions from governments, organizations and individuals. The VFTC is the second largest fund administered by UN Human Rights. It provides financial support for technical cooperation aimed at building a strong human rights framework, including effective national and regional institutions, legal frameworks and infrastructures. Detailed information on the implemented activities and the voluntary contributions managed through the Trust Fund are described in the annexed USB key. 98 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 Since 1993, a Board of Trustees, appointed by the Secretary-General, has provided administrative and operational guidance. In recent years, its role has evolved to include the provision of advice on policy orientation, strategies on technical cooperation at a broader programme level and a global vision of the work of the Fund. In 2013, the Secretary-General entrusted the Board to serve also as a Board of Trustees for the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance for the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review. In 2018, the Board was composed of five experts, namely, Mr. Morten Kjaerum (Denmark), Ms. Lin Lim (Malaysia), Ms. Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana), Ms. Valeriya Lutkovska (Ukraine) and Ms. Carmen Rosa Villa (Peru), who was nominated in July to replace Ms. Mariclaire Acosta (Mexico). At its forty-sixth session, the Board elected Mr. Morten Kjaerum as Chair until 30 October 2019. The Board decided to extend the period of time that each member serves as Chair, on a rotational basis, to ensure their tenure covers at least two Board sessions and one Human Rights Council (HRC) session. The Board meets twice a year to review the programmes the Fund supports and to consider thematic issues, methodologies and procedures; examine financial, administrative and fundraising matters; and brief Member States on its activities. The forty-sixth session of the VFTC was held in Colombia, in April, following a decision that sessions should be held in all types of field presences with sound technical cooperation programmes, regardless of whether or not they are financed through the Fund, in order to better understand all programmes of the Office and to facilitate good practices across all types of presences. Subsequently, the forty-seventh session was held at the Regional Office for South America in Santiago de Chile. Through these sessions, the Board members observed the work of UN Human Rights field presences, evaluated their cooperation with partners on the ground and held discussions with staff members of UN Human Rights on the status of the implementation of technical cooperation programmes, funding trends, challenges and opportunities for the Fund. Since 2018, the Fund has increasingly covered the work of Human Rights Advisers in the region. During its session in Chile, the Board took the opportunity to review the UN Human Rights Management Plan 2018-2021 and to explore with UN Human Rights and its regional partners the availability of advisory services and technical cooperation experiences in relation to issues identified as frontier issues. The Board welcomed an initiative to enhance the work, knowledge and support for linking human rights and the OMP’s frontier issues of corruption, climate change, inequality and the displacement and movement of people. The Board noted that these are all critical issues that require the expertise and experience of UN Human Rights to support a wider and more thorough understanding of their human rights dimensions and implications. For that reason, since its forty-seventh session, the Board has decided to gather experiences and discuss technical cooperation components that could serve to support States in advancing in these important areas, beginning with the issue of the human rights dimensions of corruption. Particular emphasis was placed on the impact of corruption on the States’ duty to respect, protect and fulfil economic, civil, social, political and cultural rights. The Board stressed that the technical support of UN Human Rights was needed to help explain how human rights can support efforts to combat corruption. As of 31 December, the total expenditure of the Fund was US$13,294,808 compared to US$12,739,773 in 2017. The increase in the cost plan was accompanied by an increase in the voluntary contributions received by UN Human Rights during the reporting period. Coverage of the Human Rights Advisers deployed through the Fund expanded in 2018 as part of the UNSDG effort to enhance capacities on the ground, as did coverage for the newly established country presences. This means that contributions previously channeled through various financial instruments (i.e., the UNDG 2012 Strategy for the deployment of Human Rights Advisers) are now channeled through the Fund. As of 31 December, the Fund had received a total of US$18,789,565 in pledges and contributions. The Fund provided the resources for technical cooperation programmes designed to build strong human rights frameworks at the national level in 40 regions, countries and territories, including through 28 Human Rights Advisers/human rights mainstreaming projects in Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Niger, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, Zimbabwe and the South Caucasus region (based in Georgia); seven human rights components of peace operations in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Libya, Somalia and Sudan (Darfur); and four country/standalone offices in Chad, Mauritania, Mexico and the State of Palestine.5 Through the Fund, UN Human Rights facilitated national efforts to incorporate international human rights standards into national laws, policies and practices, with emphasis on the follow-up to recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms and the development of online mechanisms to facilitate such follow-up. Moreover, it contributed to the establishment and strengthening of national structures, institutions and capacities to ensure adherence to those standards. As a result of technical cooperation with UN Human Rights field presences supported by the Fund, Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams (UNCTs) strengthened their human rights capacity. 5  eference to the State of Palestine should be understood R in compliance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19. UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 99