FUNDS ADMINISTERED BY UN HUMAN RIGHTS
the Human Rights Council was established under Human
Rights Council resolution 19/26, in 2012. The objective of
the Trust Fund is to enhance their institutional and human
rights capacities through targeted training courses and
travel assistance for delegates attending Council sessions and fellowship programmes. In 2017, the Trust Fund
received US$774,581 in voluntary contributions.
Through the Fund, UN Human Rights provided support
to 27 delegates, including five fellows, from 26 LDCs/
SIDS (13 from Africa, four from the Caribbean and Latin
America and nine from Asia and the Pacific). Among the
27 beneficiary delegates and fellows, 18 were women.
Nine of the beneficiary delegates represented SIDS
that do not have permanent representation in Geneva, namely: Belize, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Papua New
Guinea, Samoa, Sao Tomé and Principe and Tonga.
Voluntary Fund for Participation of
LDCs and SIDS in the work of the
Human Rights Council
Voluntary contributions in 2017
Donor
Australia
Belgium
Denmark
Germany
India
Ireland
Italy
Norway
Pakistan
Republic of Korea
Singapore
Spain
Switzerland
Turkey
US$
75,643
28,441
158,529
111,982
50,000
In 2017, the Fund allocated 74 travel grants to enable the participation of indigenous representatives in
the sixteenth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (23), the tenth session of the Expert
Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (20),
the sessions of the Human Rights Council (3), the UPR
Working Group (3), the Human Rights Committee (2), the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women (6), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (11), the Committee on the Rights of the
Child (1), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1), the Committee on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (2) and the Committee against Torture
(2). Additionally, seven indigenous representatives
were supported by the Fund to attend a General Assembly session, in February 2017.
In 2017, the Fund received a total of US$542,097
from nine Member States; representing an increase
of contributions received the previous year. The Fund
is administered by UN Human Rights and acts on the
advice of a five-member Board of Trustees. In 2017,
the five Board members appointed by the SecretaryGeneral were: Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara (Nigeria);
Ms. Myrna Cunningham (Nicaragua); Ms. Anne Nuorgam (Finland); Mr. Binota Dhamai (Bangladesh); and
Ms. Claire Charters (New Zealand).
UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples
Voluntary contributions in 2017
53,706
30,000
59,298
15,000
50,000
10,000
111,982
10,000
10,000
TOTAL
774,581
Donor
Australia
Chile
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Norway
Peru
Spain
Turkey
US$
113,464
7,500
23,697
55,991
55,991
249,051
4,006
22,396
10,000
TOTAL
United Nations Voluntary Fund
for Indigenous Peoples
The Fund was established by General Assembly resolution 40/131, in 1985, as a way to ensure that the voices
of indigenous peoples are heard within the UN system.
Over the past 32 years, the Fund supported the participation of over 2,000 indigenous peoples’ representatives in various UN processes, including the sessions
of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and
the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as relevant meetings of the Human Rights
Council and the human rights treaty bodies.
542,097
Humanitarian Funds
UN Human Rights provides joint secretariat support to
two grant-making funds, namely, the Voluntary Fund for
Victims of Torture and the Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Together, they are known
as the UN Human Rights Humanitarian Funds. They
were established by the General Assembly with the
purpose of providing direct assistance and rehabilitation to individuals whose rights have been violated in
the context of torture and contemporary forms of slav-
UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017
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