BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF VOLUNTARY FUND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TECHNICAL COOPERATION TO MEET IN GENEVA

29 May 2002



The Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights will hold its seventeenth session from 3 to 5 June 2002 in Palais Wilson, Geneva.

At this meeting, the Board will make recommendations on proposed projects aimed at advancing the promotion and protection of all human rights, democracy, and the rule of law through initiatives in Africa, Europe and Central Asia, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Arab region.

The Board will also review reports from evaluations of projects implemented in Chad, Ecuador, East Timor, Georgia, Moldova and the Andean Region. In addition, the Board will discuss and give recommendations concerning a planned global review of technical cooperation activities, and it will discuss the outcome of the first session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Another item in the agenda for this seventeenth session of the Board is follow-up to the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Members will also meet with contributors to the Fund, as well as with Member States of the United Nations.

Technical cooperation projects are developed in close cooperation with the requesting Governments and the United Nations agencies and programmes present in the countries concerned. Programmes are operational in more than 30 countries, providing assistance for the building of national and regional capacities for protecting and promoting all human rights. There is a particular emphasis on the creation or strengthening of national human rights institutions; education and training of government officials, lawyers, judges, police and prison officials; penal reform; broad-based education, and public information for the respect of human rights.

Established in 1987 by the Secretary-General, the Fund has over the last four years received an average of $6 million a year in contributions and pledges. As of 30 April it had received $2 million in contributions and $3 million in pledges.

The Board of Trustees, established in 1993, consists of five members appointed by the Secretary-General for three years on the basis of their independence and experience in human rights and technical cooperation. The current members are: Leila I. Takla (Egypt), Chairperson; Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden); Kinhide Mushakoji (Japan); Ligia Bolivar (Venezuela), and Krzysztof Skubiszewski (Poland).




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