A/HRC/15/38 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 5 July 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Fifteenth session Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Practical implications of a change in the mandate the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations Report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights Summary The present report has been prepared in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 12/13 of 12 October 2009, in which the Council requested that OHCHR prepare “a detailed document outlining the practical implications of a change in mandate of the Voluntary Fund [for Indigenous Populations] in particular if it is expanded, the current working methods and resources of the Fund, and to present it to the Council at its fifteenth session”. The present report covers in particular: the mandate, administration, working methods and financial status of the Fund. It also provides information on the implications of a possible change of mandate of the Fund to cover the participation of indigenous people’s representatives to sessions of the treaty bodies and Human Rights Council, which has been proposed by the Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (proposals contained in reports A/HRC/10/56 and A/HRC/12/32). GE.10-14900