A/HRC/32/51 I. Introduction A. Background 1. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1993/87, receives voluntary contributions from Governments, organizations and individuals. The objective of the Fund is to provide financial support for technical cooperation aimed at building and strengthening national and regional institutions, legal frameworks and infrastructures that will have a positive long-term impact on the implementation of international human rights standards. 2. The Board of Trustees has been operational since 1993 and its members are appointed by the Secretary-General for a three-year renewable term. The mandate of the Board is to assist the Secretary-General in streamlining and rationalizing the working methods and procedures of the technical cooperation programme. It meets twice a year and reports on its work to the Secretary-General and the Human Rights Council. Its current members are Mariclaire Acosta Urquidi (Mexico), Christopher Sidoti (Australia), Lin Lim (Malaysia), Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana) and Ilze Brands Kehris (Latvia). Ms. Brands Kehris was appointed to the Board on 17 February 2015, replacing Valeriu Nicolae (Romania), who resigned in January 2015 following his appointment to the Government of Romania. The Board elected Ms. Lim as Chair from 30 June 2015 until 30 June 2016, when she will be succeeded by Mr. Sidoti, who was re-elected as Chair by the Board at its fortysecond session. B. Mandate 3. Throughout the period under review, the Board continued to engage actively with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), including its field presences, providing advice on policy orientation and strategic vision on technical cooperation components of all its programmes. This refocused approach was agreed upon by the Board of Trustees and presented in 2011 to Member States in the annual report of the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/16/66). 4. The members of the Board are also the constituent members of the Board of Trustees for the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review. In that capacity, they continued to provide OHCHR with policy guidance in order to maximize the effectiveness of technical assistance and financial support for States in implementing recommendations of the universal periodic review and other international mechanisms at the State level (see A/HRC/32/28). In this dual capacity, the Board also sought to promote the synergies and, hence, the more effective use of both funds. 5. The Board holds its annual sessions both in Geneva and in countries where OHCHR has a field presence. The field sessions continue to be particularly useful in enhancing the Board’s understanding of the nature of the technical cooperation provided by OHCHR through the two funds and in enabling the Board to observe with all partners the effectiveness of the results achieved. The briefings and analysis of the financial and programmatic elements governing the two funds during the sessions in Geneva also have key importance for the Board members to be able to continue to advise OHCHR and its senior management on the various aspects of the two funds. OHCHR has also increased opportunities for the Board to provide specific advice on the technical cooperation components relevant to each of its six thematic strategies. Through these discussions and 3