HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS APPROVES GRANTS RECOMMENDED BY UN VOLUNTARY FUND FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE

HR/99/58
23 June 1999





United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has approved, on behalf of the Secretary-General, grants amounting to $ 5.1 million to organizations supporting victims of torture.

These grants were recommended by the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture at its eighteenth session which was held in Geneva from 17 to 28 May 1999.

The Board had received requests for grants which came to more than $ 8 million.

Grants were allocated to about 130 organizations providing medical, psychiatric, psychological, social, economic, legal, humanitarian or other assistance to victims of torture and members of their families from all over the world.

The Board also recommended grants to organize training for health professionals, social workers, psychologists and other professionals.

It has been estimated that about 60,000 victims and members of their families were assisted in 1997 through the support of the Fund.

As compared with 1998, the Board noticed an increase of more than $ 1 million in requests for grants for 1999. However, following appeals made by the High Commissioner and then by the General Assembly (resolution 53/139), several donor Governments increased the level of contributions paid, so that consideration might be given to the increasing demand for assistance. The main donor to the Fund in 1998, the United States, doubled its contribution which amounted to $ 3 million this year.

In order to take into consideration the increasing demand for assistance, it has been estimated that applications for new grants for the year 2000, amounting to $ 10 million, should be received by the deadline of 31 December 1999. New voluntary contributions should also be received before the next session of the Board of Trustees in May 2000.

Detailed information will be available in the Secretary-General’s annual report on the Fund to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session (last Report A/53/283).

Pending publication of the above mentioned report, for any details, please contact the Fund’s secretariat at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Support Services Branch, Trust Fund Unit, telephone (41.22) 917.93.15, fax (41.22) 917.90.17, e-mail: dpremont.hchr@ unog.ch.