A/HRC/22/19 Donor Turkey United Arab Emirates United States of America Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) Holy See Amount (United States dollars) Date of receipt 10 000 12 December 2011 9 982 9 May 2011 5 700 000 8 November 2011 38 948 17 November 2011 1 000 9 September 2011 25 285 25 August and 10 November 2011 Private sources Individuals Total contributions 7 169 167 Pledges Afghanistan 500 8 November 2010 Belgium 284 900 9 June 2011 Finland 194 667 16 December 2011 Spain 341 997 2 November 2011 Total pledges B. 822 064 Recommendations adopted by the Board at its thirty-fifth session 9. At its session, the Board examined information prepared by the secretariat concerning projects proposals for 2012, including new applications, and the analysis of narrative, financial and audit reports on the use of grants paid in previous years. It considered requests for new grants for more than 280 projects providing direct assistance to victims of torture and their family members in 2012, as well as requests for 15 projects amounting to $397,388 for training and seminars for professionals assisting victims to exchange information on experiences and best practices. 10. The Board of Trustees made recommendations for grants for more than 220 ongoing and 22 new projects providing direct assistance to 70,000 victims in more than 70 countries, for a total amount of $7,089,471. The High Commissioner approved the Board’s recommendations on 16 February 2012 on behalf of the Secretary-General. 11. Owing to the significant decrease in the level of contributions received in 2011, at its thirty-fifth session the Board was compelled to make further strategic cuts to grants awarded to ongoing projects for 2012 in addition to those already made for the 2011 cycle. Consequently, a decrease of 40 per cent was applied to the grants awarded to projects located in Western European and other States , while the level of support of projects located in other regions was reduced on average by 30 per cent. 12. With a view to mitigating the effects of the cuts on small grass-roots organizations, in particular those located in remote regions where access to alternative funding is difficult, no strategic cuts were applied to grants of $20,000 or below. It should be noted that, as a rule, support for all grantees was capped at $80,000 instead of the usual $200,000. In addition, funding for training and seminars for professionals assisting victims was capped at $5,000 instead of the usual $30,000. Moreover, as was already the case in 2011, support for 4