BOARD OF VOLUNTARY FUND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TECHNICAL COOPERATION TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 8 TO 11 JUNE

4 June 2004


Helping countries that want to help themselves: that is the goal of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, which will meet in Geneva from 8 to 11 June 2004.

The Fund, established in 1987 to strengthen the United Nations human rights Technical Cooperation Programme, is currently helping to make possible projects in over 30 countries. Those activities focus on assisting countries as they create or strengthen national human rights institutions, improve the administration of justice, draft national human rights action plans, and extend human rights education. At this session, the Board of Trustees will discuss Programme strategy and project activities in Africa and the Arab Region.

Issues to be considered during this session also include the Secretary-General’s Programme of Reform and its implications for the Technical Cooperation Programme; collaboration with the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights, such as the special rapporteurs and working groups, and with the bodies that monitor the implementation of human rights treaties; a review of the regional offices and approaches of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and follow up to a global review of the Technical Cooperation Programme undertaken in 2003.

In addition, Board members will meet with contributors to the Fund, as well as with member States of the United Nations.

The Board of Trustees was established in 1993 to provide expert advice and support fund-raising for the Fund. During the last four years, the Fund has received an average of $6 million per year in contributions and pledges. As of 31 May this year contributions amount to $4 million.

Technical cooperation projects are developed in close cooperation with requesting Governments and the United Nations agencies and programmes present in the countries concerned.

The five members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Secretary-General for three years and are chosen for their independence and wide experience in the field of human rights and technical cooperation. The following are the current members: Ligia Bolivar (Venezuela), Mary Chinery-Hesse (Ghana), Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden); Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand), and Viacheslav Bakhmin (Russia).

This twenty-first session of the Board will be held in the first-floor Conference Room of the Palais Wilson, the Geneva headquarters of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.