A/HRC/41/28 Income Other personnel costs (consultants’ fees and travel) Staff travel — 14 345.05 Travel of representatives/participants to meetings and seminars Contractual services 228 584.06 2 627.70 General operating and other direct costs Equipment, vehicles and furniture 17 757.80 1 493.96 Grants out (<$50,000) and fellowships 22 086.69 Programme support (indirect) costs 40 139.09 Total expenditure Adjustments to prior year expenditure (liquidation of commitments) Net excess (shortfall) of income over expenditure for the period Opening balance on 1 January 2018 348 901.23 — 295 421.93 1 203 240.60 Other adjustments (prior period) — Unpaid pledges — Total fund balance as at 31 December 2018 907 818.67 5. Since the establishment of the Fund, 18 countries have made financial contributions. In 2018, Belgium contributed $29,239.77. 6. Since the Fund has not enjoyed a predictable pattern of income, substantial resources are systematically kept as a reserve for future activities; the secretariat of the Fund has approved all requests, in line with the Fund’s terms of reference, to enable participation in the universal periodic review. III. Activities A. Travel to meetings 7. Under the terms of reference of the Fund, financial support is made available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to cover travel to Geneva by one official government representative in order to participate: (a) In sessions of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review during which the representative’s country is considered; (b) In plenary sessions of the Human Rights Council during which the outcome of the review of the representative’s country is adopted. 8. The Fund also provides for the travel of official representatives (one per delegation) of developing countries, in particular least developed countries, that are members of the Human Rights Council and do not have a permanent mission in Geneva, to act as rapporteurs (namely, as members of the troika). 9. In 2018, 22 of the 29 States that were considered eligible for the travel assistance of the Fund benefited from financial assistance to participate in the sessions of the Working Group at which they were reviewed or in the Human Rights Council plenary sessions: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Cuba, Djibouti, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Montenegro, Nigeria, Serbia, Tonga, Tuvalu and Uzbekistan. In total, 24 delegates were funded. 3