FUNDING United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples was established by General Assembly resolution 40/131, in 1985, to ensure that the voices of indigenous peoples are heard within the UN system. Since then, the mandate and scope of the Fund have been significantly expanded by the General Assembly. Today, the Fund provides support for the representatives of indigenous peoples to participate in various key meetings of the United Nations, such as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), the Human Rights Council, including the UPR process, the human rights treaty bodies and the consultation processes on enabling the participation of indigenous peoples’ representatives in the UN that is led by the President of the General Assembly. In December, the General Assembly expanded the Fund’s mandate to include the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights and meetings of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Over the past 34 years, the Fund has supported the participation of over 2,500 representatives of indigenous peoples from all regions of the world. The development of the rights of indigenous peoples has been driven by a united and transnational movement of indigenous peoples, enabling them to bring their issues to the attention of the international community. Through the support of the Fund, the participation of indigenous peoples at the United Nations over the last three decades has led to considerable developments in international human rights standards, including the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the creation of key UN mechanisms, such as the PFII, the EMRIP and the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples. The Fund is administered by UN Human Rights on behalf of the SecretaryGeneral and is advised by a five-member Board of Trustees. The Board members appointed by the Secretary-General for the period 1 January 2018 – 31 December 2020 are Mr. Diel Mochire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Ms. Myrna Cunningham (Nicaragua), Ms. Anne Nuorgam (Finland), Mr. Binota Dhamai (Bangladesh) and Ms. Claire Charters (New Zealand). The Board of Trustees participated in the regular coordination meetings of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous peoples, the PFII and the EMRIP, which in turn disseminated information on the activities of the Fund to their respective networks. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur established an important practice of holding meetings with the beneficiaries of the Fund in parallel to the sessions of the EMRIP and the PFII. Additionally, 14 indigenous representatives were supported by the Fund to attend a General Assembly consultative process/interactive hearing session, in New York. UN VOLUNTARY FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURE IN 2019 Donor US$ Australia 33,898 Chile 5,000 Estonia 22,222 Finland 55,741 Holy See 4,000 Norway 324,957 Peru 2,943 Spain 22,002 TOTAL 470,763 EXPENDITURE 759,114 As of 31 December, the Fund had received a total of US$470,763 in pledges and contributions compared to US$1,011,105 in 2018. In 2019, the total expenditure of the Fund amounted to US$759,114 compared to US$326,988 in 2018. In 2019, the Fund allocated 144 travel grants to enable indigenous representatives to participate in the sessions of the PFII in New York (45), the EMRIP in Geneva (45) and the HRC, its UPR Working Group and the UN human rights treaty bodies in Geneva (40). UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2019 121