A/HRC/10/57 page 7 B. Human rights components of United Nations peace missions 15. The Board was briefed on the Voluntary Fund resources used in the context of human rights capacity- and institution-building activities in peace operations. A consultancy paper on human rights capacity-building in post-conflict peace operations was presented to the Board, which encouraged, in the framework of the Office’s current overall evaluation of the technical cooperation programme, the elaboration of standards and principles to support the implementation of technical cooperation by human rights components. It also recommended that an overarching strategy be developed to ensure coherence in the work of various United Nations programmes contributing to peace operations. 16. The Board was also briefed on a number of key developments relevant to the work of human rights components of peace missions, including the first policy directive, led jointly by OHCHR, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Political Affairs, on public reporting by human rights components of United Nations peace operations, and the increased issuing of public reports, an institutionalized focal point for human rights in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support, the imminent commencement of a joint review of Department of Political Affairs special political missions, and progress towards full implementation of the human rights database project. 17. The Board acknowledged that human rights components have an important and challenging role to play. One particular challenge is promoting accountability during peace processes and reconciling the rule of law with political expediency. The Board stressed that peace and justice should not be seen as separate goals, and that human rights are central to both. V. TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES 18. The Board was briefed about the Office’s engagement and capacity-building activities in different geographic regions. It was informed that most activities under the OHCHR Africa programme are carried out by the Office’s 22 presences in the region, which include four regional offices (in Addis Ababa for East Africa, in Pretoria for Southern Africa, in Dakar for West Africa, and the Central Africa Centre in Yaoundé), five human rights advisers (in Guinea, Kenya, the Niger, Rwanda and West Africa), two country offices (Togo and Uganda), as well as support to 11 peace operations (in Burundi, Chad and the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Guinea Bissau, Somalia and the two missions in the Sudan). 19. The OHCHR Africa programme helps African Governments, institutions and civil society organizations to incorporate human rights principles into their everyday efforts to respond to the human rights needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, fight impunity and address discrimination, especially against women. The programme seeks in particular to increase institutional awareness and fill capacity gaps on human rights, especially to address violations by the police, army and the judiciary. Similarly, existing knowledge and capacity gaps of national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, including organizations focusing on transitional justice, human rights monitoring, reporting and advocacy, are bridged through human rights training programmes. Regular public reporting from OHCHR presences in Africa serves as a major tool for diagnosing human rights gaps, dialoguing with Governments and raising awareness broadly on key human rights issues.