OPENING STATEMENT BY MARY ROBINSON, HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, NINTH SESSION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE VOLUNTARY FUND FOR TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS (GENEVA, 6 - 8 July 1998)

Mme. Chairperson and Distinguished Members of the Board,

It is my great pleasure to address for the first time the opening of the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation.

Since I took office last September, I have had a number of opportunities to discuss with colleagues, member States, NGOs, UN agencies and other partners to consider the unique and significant role played by the Technical Cooperation Programme and the Voluntary Fund in the overall UN mandate in the field of human rights. It is clear that high expectations exist among member States with respect to this programme. In fact, many of the statements delivered at the latest session of the Commission on Human Rights endorsed national capacity building, the development of national human rights action plans, and the creation or strengthening of national human rights institutions as sustainable means of addressing human rights questions. I would like to confirm again that I attach great importance to technical cooperation which aims at strengthening national capacities for the promotion and protection of human rights and I consider this area one of the most dynamic of the work of the OHCHR. Suffice here to recall that 10 years ago the programme was limited to an average of 2 activities per year and that now there are hundreds of main activities undertaken in over 40 countries worldwide and that most of our new field presences are linked to technical cooperation programmes aimed at advancing democracy, development and the rule of law.

On various occasions in the past, the Board emphasized the distinctive nature of technical cooperation as compared to human rights monitoring. Upon the implementation of the new structure of this Office last February, I assigned Mr. Gianni Magazzeni to coordinate all technical cooperation activities in close cooperation with the newly established geographic desks. This was done in order to maintain the programmatic framework of the technical cooperation programme, as well as to ensure consistency in the application of existing technical cooperation practices and procedures. Ms. Rita Reddy, who joined this Office on 15 June to head the Activities and Programmes Branch will ensure the overall effectiveness of the programme and the efficiency of this coordination. Ms. Reddy brings to our office the excellent operational experience developed over the years in UNICEF and UNHCR.

In this regard, I would like to assure you that strict and transparent management rules, procedures and reporting requirements under the Voluntary Fund which have been developed with your assistance continue to be applied in various stages of technical cooperation process. I also acknowledge the importance of ongoing periodic and direct exchange of views and information with both donor and recipient Governments in view of its contribution to the increased credibility of Fund and programme management. I believe that the systematic information sharing with all stakeholders is a prerequisite for the effective fundraising.

I consider extrabudgetary resources an indispensable complement if the mandates entrusted to her Office for the provision of technical cooperation, the support of field activities, and other endeavors related to indigenous people, rights of the child, economic rights, victims of
torture and slavery, and action to combat racism and racial discrimination, are to be carried out. With the aim of increasing the capacity of this Office as a whole in terms of resources, we have recently developed a unified and consolidated approach in fundraising for all human rights trust funds including the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation. Overall our requirements for 1998 are of US $ 54 million: I am pleased to announce that in response to our collective fundraising efforts by 30 June over US $ 30 million have been received representing 56 % of total requirements for the year. We have developed a special section in our Website on Fund-raising updated on a monthly basis with also useful statistics and charts, which will be shown to you later on today.

Mme. Chairperson, it is my firm belief that technical cooperation is one of the key areas of our activities, through which we will be able to make a substantial contribution to integrated development cooperation, under one UN flag or what is now called “UN Development Assistance Framework”, towards achieving the right to development and “international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all” as stipulated in Article 1 of the United Nations Charter. My Office will ensure through the UN Development Group coordinated by UNDP that human rights needs are addressed in system-wide development cooperation. With this in mind, I brought to the attention of this Group the milestone agreement on regional technical cooperation in the field of human rights reached by all Asia-Pacific Governments in Tehran last March. This project will be funded under the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation and has already opened up new opportunities for cooperation in human rights with countries from that region. Therefore I count on your assistance in making this important initiative a reality and in generating support for it from a substantive and a financial point of view.

Let me emphasize that the dimension of the reform process within the UN will be best implemented through coordinated efforts to incorporate a “rights-based” approach and perspective into strategic national planning for sustainable human development. It would be unrealistic for us to imagine that this could be achieved overnight. However, I am encouraged by the increased cooperation between my Office and other agencies and departments - in relation to both the development and implementation of technical cooperation projects.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that cooperation with UNDP has been institutionalized by the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding and will expand. It is auspicious that the first joint initiative with UNDP aimed at strengthening human rights capacities in Southern Africa has just commenced through the deployment of a sub-regional human rights advisor last week (who was a former project manager of our VFTC) following long consultations with UNDP. I believe that this type of initiative represents concrete action for integrating human rights in field-based development activities, which ensures popular participation in the programming and implementation process. It is quite encouraging to note that developing and financing projects jointly with UNDP in the area of technical cooperation is becoming a standard practice. Another successful example of joint technical cooperation initiatives is, as you are aware, the ongoing human rights training for peace-keepers. I hope that this trend will further expand to other areas of UN activities and contribute to the system-wide human rights mainstreaming.

Mme. Chairperson, while embarking on new inter-agency cooperation is important, I am aware of the need to increase the relevance of our technical cooperation capacity - both in conceptual and methodological terms. For instance, the ongoing initiatives to integrate economic and social and cultural rights and the human rights of women into the Technical Cooperation Programme will facilitate my Office’s greater participation in United Nations development assistance. The on-going efforts to bring a human rights dimension to United Nations peace-keeping and peace-building activities through training based upon the manual developed by this Office also confirms the added-value of the Technical Cooperation Programme.

We are also currently undertaking an initiative to mainstream the work related to national human rights institutions into the programme of my Office. National institutions are, in my view, a critical part of the human rights equation. An independent, effective national institution, established and operating in accordance with the Paris Principles, can offer one of the best ways of truly strengthening national capacity to protect and promote human rights. I noted that the Voluntary Fund has been funding a large number of activities relating to national human rights institutions. Technical assistance in this area also fosters an important sense of ownership of human rights issues by rooting international human rights obligations in local cultures.

On a practical note, Mme. Chairperson, I would like to draw your attention to the document before you which records the fact that during the first 5 months of 1998, the Voluntary Fund has received 6.6 million US dollars including pledges, which is record-breaking, and that the total amount received since the Fund’s inception has now reached over 31.3 million dollars. The deficit trend in terms of availability of funds which persisted over the past few years has now been reversed for the first time. As you also will note, however, our demands are also growing and additional $ 9.6 million will be required if we include also projects in the pipeline. Therefore I continue to count on your assistance in ensuring that the necessary funds are raised and made available to cover these requirements: Effectively I am asking each of you to be as effective as possible in connection with fundraising if we are to meet the challenges ahead for the programme.

I would like to refer to the Board’s earlier recommendations relating to the establishment of the Projet Approval Committee, as well as to finalizing cooperation agreement with UNOPS. I have always been of the view that structured approach to programme development and implementation is needed in dealing with action-oriented activities and operational activities including human rights field operations. Thus, I established last April an internal mechanism to review and approve all such project proposals following technical cooperation procedures. As for the long-awaited cooperation with UNOPS in project execution, I am pleased to inform you that an MOU was signed last May between UNOPS and my Office and some of the field operations including the regional presence in Pretoria is now being managed by UNOPS as of 1 July. I understand that these issues will be discussed later during this session of the Board.

Finally, I am pleased to inform you that concrete steps have been taken to identify and recruit a qualified Coordinator of the Voluntary Fund to work closely with the Board to further strengthen the Technical Cooperation Programme and to promote the activities of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation. I have reviewed all applications and identified four qualified candidates whom I will personally interview in the next few days. This additional staff will add to the quality and effectiveness of the team that we have set up to deal with our technical cooperation activities in the field of human rights.

Thank you for your attention.