A/HRC/20/34 I. Introduction A. Background 1. The Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights, established by the Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1987/83, receives voluntary contributions from Governments, organizations and individuals. The objective of the Fund is to provide financial support for international cooperation aimed at building up and strengthening national and regional institutions and infrastructures that will have longterm impact on improved implementation of international human rights standards. 1 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. Current members are Sozar Subari (Georgia), Fatima Mbaye (Mauritania), Cecilia Medina Quiroga (Chile), Christopher Dominic Sidoti (Australia) and Deepika Udagama (Sri Lanka). The second terms of office of Monica Pinto (Argentina) and William Schabas (Canada and Ireland) ended in December 2011. Ms. Medina and Mr. Sidoti were appointed by the Secretary-General in January 2012. B. Mandate 3. Since 2004, the Board of Trustees has refocused its attention from more detailed revision of individual projects to advising the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on policy orientation and strategy in strengthening its technical cooperation programme in the field of human rights. Instead of focusing on smaller projects, funds are now injected into the work of existing field presences on the basis of the rationale that much of the activities undertaken by OHCHR field presences fall within the area of technical cooperation. This broader definition of technical cooperation agreed by the Board of Trustees was presented to Members States and reported in the annual reports of the Secretary-General submitted to the Human Rights Council.2 4. The new role played by the Board has been appreciated by OHCHR, which has greatly benefited from the experience and wisdom of the Board members, particularly following the recent reforms in the OHCHR strategic planning process. 5. The present report covers the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sessions of the Board. At those sessions, the Board built on its previous experience, and continued to explore various components of the Human Rights Programme on Technical Cooperation, funded by the Voluntary Fund, with a view to providing policy guidance and advice on the technical cooperation activities carried out by OHCHR. 1 2 See Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/87. See A/HRC/16/66. 3