FUNDING
their contributions. The additional income was a much
appreciated investment in human rights and meant that
the Office could meet more of the demands it is facing.
Nevertheless, the donated amount falls far below the
US$252.9 million in extrabudgetary funding that was
being sought.
The overall increase of 10 per cent refers to both earmarked and unearmarked contributions. In 2017, earmarked contributions (57 per cent) surpassed unearmarked contributions (43 per cent) for the fourth time
since 2008. Yet, unearmarked funds reached the second highest amount received at US$61.4 million. Some
of the increase in earmarking can be attributed to the receipt of more local funding for field activities and contributions from non-traditional budget lines that can only be
accessed as earmarked funds. Other contributions that
were previously unearmarked have been transformed
into more circumscribed funding. While additional funding is much appreciated, increases in earmarking limits
the Office’s capacity to allocate resources where they
are most urgently required and demands more constant
budgetary adjustments over the course of the year.
During the year, approximately 60 per cent of all voluntary funding was used to support work in the field,
which receives minimal support from the regular
78
UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017
budget. The remainder of the voluntary funding was
distributed between other areas of the Office’s work
and often supplemented the limited resources available from the regular budget. This enabled the Office
to achieve a far greater impact than would otherwise
have been possible.
Who Funds UN Human
Rights?
The Office calls on all Member States and other donors, including the private sector, to raise the funds
that are needed to fully implement its mandate to
promote and protect human rights. The table overleaf
lists, in descending order, all donors that voluntarily
contributed in 2017. As was the case in previous years,
the overwhelming majority of voluntary contributions
came from Member States, which provided a total of
US$126.1 million, or 88.3 per cent of all contributions.
International organizations, including the European
Commission and UN partners, contributed an additional US$16 million, or 11.2 per cent, of all contributions.
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