A/HRC/29/48
54.
The Secretariat should support OHCHR to put in place adequate mechanisms for
career development, taking into account the sometimes extremely difficult circumstances in
which staff operate, in particular in crisis situations. The new measures taken by the
Secretariat to ensure mobility of OHCHR and other United Nations staff members between
duty stations are most welcome. The Board would like to ensure that these measures do not
weaken but rather strengthen and support the years of investment in building robust human
rights expertise in the staff of the United Nations. This would be critical for the Office’s
capacity to effectively meet the increasing requests from Member States for technical
cooperation.
IV. Status of funding and donors
55.
At its meetings in October 2014 and February 2015, the Board was updated on the
overall financial status of OHCHR and its donors, the financial situation ofr 2014 of the
Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights and its functioning
in the overall funding system, including interlinkages with other extrabudgetary resources,
and the funding projections and proposed work plan for the Fund for 2015. Expenditures
under the Fund had again increased throughout 2014 without being matched by financial
contributions, a situation that the Board brings constantly to the attention of the Human
Rights Council in its annual updates.
56.
In 2014, the total expenditure of the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in
the Field of Human Rights amounted to $20.2 million. The Fund received a total of $17.7
million in voluntary contributions, of which $9.7 million were earmarked and $8 million
were allocated to the Fund from unearmarked contributions to OHCHR. The resulting
deficit of $2.5 million at the end of 2014 was covered from other existing reserves. During
this period, the Fund continued to provide resources for technical cooperation to build
strong human rights frameworks at the national level in 30 regions, States and territories.
This included support for 16 human rights advisers (in Chad, Ecuador, Honduras, Kenya,
Madagascar, the Niger, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Maldives, the Republic of Moldova,
the Russian Federation, Rwanda, South Caucasus (Georgia), Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and
Ukraine); eight human rights components of peace missions (in Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire,
Darfur (Sudan), Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Libya and Somalia) and six country/standalone offices (Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Kosovo,4 Mauritania, Mexico, Togo and the
State of Palestine). Details of contributions and programmes are provided in the annual
report of OHCHR for 2014.
57.
Through the Fund, the Office has facilitated efforts made at the country level to
incorporate international human rights standards into national laws, policies and practices,
and contributed to the establishment and strengthening of national capacities to adhere to
these standards. Strengthening the administration of justice and increasing capacities to
promote gender equality and women’s rights have also been the focus of numerous
programmes receiving support from the Fund. Through the newly established thematic
priority on widening democratic space, greater engagement on the establishment and
functioning of responsive national human rights institutions and on human rights education
programmes have been facilitated. United Nations Resident Coordinators and country
teams have also seen their human rights capacity strengthened by the continuing
deployment of human rights advisers. Detailed information on income and expenditure
4
Reference to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with Security Council resolution 1244
(1999) and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.
15
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