A/HRC/10/49 page 5 (c) Board members, who are respected United Nations experts in the field of contemporary forms of slavery, may establish, if needed, direct contact with project leaders in the field, during sessions of the Board of Trustees, or at relevant human rights meetings, in order to better evaluate the use of the grants. The secretariat may also meet with project leaders; (d) Reference organizations and specialized networks may be invited to the session of the Board of Trustees at which their applications are examined in order, inter alia, to provide additional information on specific organizations or projects, answer questions and explain their activities to the Board. IV. FINANCIAL STATUS OF THE FUND 11. According to information received from OHCHR at the thirteenth session, US$ 970,050 was available from new contributions paid since the twelfth session of the Board of Trustees (see annex I) as well as from previous unspent balance. V. THIRTEENTH SESSION OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 12. The thirteenth session of the Board of Trustees of the Fund was held at OHCHR in Geneva from 8 to 12 September 2008. The session was opened by Julian Burger, Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Unit, Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch. Mr. Burger congratulated the new members Mr. Cleophas Kwdjo Mally and Ms. Virginia Herrera Murillo for their appointment and drew the attention of the Board members to the final results of the evaluation of the Fund that was undertaken by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), following a recommendation by the Board at its eleventh session. He also welcomed the appointment of a new Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. 13. Four Board members attended the session, and Mr. Weissbrodt was elected Chairman. The fifth Board member, Gulnara Shahinian (Armenia), who resigned on 23 May 2008 and had not been replaced at the time of the session, did not attend the session. 14. The Board held 10 meetings during which it examined information prepared by the secretariat concerning the financial situation of the Fund, fund-raising efforts, applications for new travel and project grants and the development of policies for future grant activities. 15. On 10 September 2008, the Board members and the Special Rapporteur organized a joint parallel event in the framework of the ninth session of the Human Rights Council with interested Governments and NGOs. On 12 September 2008, the Board of Trustees held its annual meeting with representatives of donor Governments, other donors and interested Governments (see paragraph 22). A. Recommendations for grants 16. The Board examined 181 applications for project grants from 48 countries amounting to US$ 2,490,837. Applications were received from the following continents and countries. Africa (40): Benin (2), Burkina Faso (1), Burundi (1), Cameroon (4), Central African Republic (2), Democratic Republic of the Congo (5), Ethiopia (1), Ghana (1), Ivory Coast (2), Kenya (2), Liberia (1), Malawi (1), Mali (1), Nigeria (5), Guinea (1), Rwanda (2), Tanzania (2),