A/HRC/43/68 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 1987/38, 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 infrastructure that will have positive long-term impacts 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 term, renewable once. The mandate of the Board is to assist the Secretary-General in rationalizing and improving the technical cooperation programme. It meets twice a year and reports on its work to the SecretaryGeneral and the Human Rights Council. Its current members are Morten Kjaerum (Denmark) (Chair), Lin Lim (Malaysia), Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana), Valeriya Lutkovska (Ukraine) and Santiago Corcuera-Cabezut (Mexico). Mr. Corcuera-Cabezut was nominated in August 2019 to replace the seat vacated by Carmen Rosa Villa (Peru). At its forty-ninth session, the Board elected Ms. Sutherland-Addy as Chair; her mandate will run until 30 November 2021. The position of Chair is held on a rotational basis, covering at least two sessions of the Board and an annual Human Rights Council oral update. B. Mandate 3. The Board of Trustees continued its refocused approach, as set out in the annual report of the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/16/66). The support provided through resources of the Fund to assist States in developing their national capacities to promote the effective implementation of human rights obligations continued to be appreciated, as reflected by national partners on the ground with whom the Board met and in Human Rights Council resolution 42/32. In 2019, the Board continued to provide advice to OHCHR on ways to strengthen technical cooperation in the areas identified as priorities in the Office’s programme of work for 2018–2021 and designed with partners. 4. The visits to field presences continued during the period under review through the organization of one of the Board’s sessions per year in a country or region where OHCHR is present. In 2019, the Board completed a first round of visits to all types of field presences in every region of the world, which provided the Board with opportunities to observe and discuss with partners how the Office continues to maximize the impact of its programmes. 5. As members also of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the Implementation of the Universal Periodic Review, the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights continued to offer policy guidance in order to enhance the effectiveness of technical assistance and financial support to States in implementing the recommendations made in the context of the universal periodic review and other international mechanisms. Following the advice of the Board, provided within its mandate, the Office continues to strengthen the strategic use of the resources under the Voluntary Funds to maximize their impact, especially in the areas of capacity-building and advisory services on the ground. 6. In its eight previous oral presentations and reports to the Human Rights Council, the Board has presented its observations on good practices in the context of technical cooperation. The sharing of those practices continues to encourage States to approach and partner with OHCHR to receive advisory services and technical assistance in the field of human rights. The Board welcomes the presentations by States at the sessions of the Human Rights Council, which are helping to broaden understanding of the importance of soliciting and receiving sound technical cooperation and advisory services from OHCHR, which are 2