ABOUT UN HUMAN RIGHTS How UN Human Rights is funded UN Human Rights is partially funded from the United Nations regular budget, which provided 44 per cent of the resources expended to implement the Office’s programme of work in 2017, and partially through voluntary contributions from donors, the majority of which are Member States. The cash amount of the regular budget funding that is allocated to UN Human Rights has gradually increased since 2005, when leaders attending the World Summit committed to a doubling of the resources available for the Office over a period of five years. At the beginning of the biennium, the approved regular budget appropriation for UN Human Rights was US$190.5 million for 2016-2017. The allocations for 2016 and 2017 increased during each year to allow for implementation of urgent mandates of the Human Rights Council, for a total of US$215.5 million. This can be compared with allocations of US$206.9 million in 2014-2015, US$177.3 million in 2012-2013, US$151.6 million in 2010-2011, US$120.6 million in 2008-2009, US$83.4 million in 2006-2007 and US$67.6 million in 2004-2005. For more information, please refer to pages 92-112. The level of voluntary funding allocated to UN Human Rights has increased substantially over the last decade, almost tripling from US$41.2 million in 2002 to nearly US$120 million in 2008. In 2009, contributions dropped slightly to US$118.1 million and then sharply decreased in 2010 to US$109.4 million before making a slight recovery in 2011 and 2012 when US$111.1 million was received in each of those years. The level of voluntary funding for UN Human Rights amounted to US$121.2 million in 2013, increased to US$123.7 million in 2014 and then again to US$125.8 million in 2015 before reaching US$129.6 million in 2016. In 2017, a total of US$142.8 million was raised in voluntary contributions, representing the highest amount ever received by the Office. 60 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017 The amount of unearmarked voluntary contributions grew steadily from 2002 until 2009, when it reached a maximum of 56 per cent of total contributions received. While unearmarked contributions dropped slightly to 54 per cent in 2010 and again to 51 per cent in 2011, they increased to 53 per cent in 2012 and 54 per cent in 2013. In 2014, however, the trend was reversed and the proportion of unearmarked funding decreased to 47 per cent and then to just 37 per cent in 2015 and 38 per cent in 2016, before increasing again to 43 per cent in 2017. Please refer to pages 77-91 for more information on funding, trends and challenges and pages 123-143 for the profiles of all donors in 2017. How UN Human Rights spends its budget Total expenditures in 2017, including both regular budget and voluntary contributions, reached US$246.7 million (compared to US$223.3 million in 2016, US$225.9 million in 2015 and US$239.1 million in 2014). In 2017, nearly 48 per cent of total expenditures were devoted to fieldwork activities, particularly capacity-strengthening projects and human rights monitoring, which were predominantly financed through voluntary contributions. Approximately 11 per cent of total expenditures were spent on thematic research, human rights mainstreaming, the development of policy and the provision of guidance and tools, 10 per cent on supporting the human rights treaty bodies, including policymaking organs, and 12 per cent on support for the Human Rights Council and its special procedures. The remainder was devoted to programme support (6 per cent), executive direction and management, resource mobilization and outreach activities (9 per cent) and the trust funds and miscellaneous activities (4 per cent). Further information on the financial accounts for the year-end to 31 December and the breakdown of expenditures and the allocation of voluntary contributions can be found on pages 92-112.