A/HRC/44/19 I. Introduction A. Submission of the report 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council decision 17/119, in which the Council requested the Secretariat to provide an annual written update on the operations of the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the implementation of the universal periodic review and on the resources available to it. The report was prepared by the Secretariat in consultation with the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund. The report provides an overview of contributions and expenditure as at 31 December 2019 (see table 1), together with a description of action taken since the submission of the previous report (A/HRC/41/29) to operationalize the Voluntary Fund. It also provides a description of the results achieved through the various activities financed by the Voluntary Fund during 2019. B. Background 2. In its resolution 6/17, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to establish a voluntary fund for financial and technical assistance in order to provide, in conjunction with multilateral funding mechanisms, a source of financial and technical assistance to help countries implement recommendations emanating from the universal periodic review in consultation with, and with the consent of, the country concerned. In its resolution 16/21, the Council requested that the Voluntary Fund be strengthened and operationalized in order to provide a source of financial and technical assistance to help countries, in particular least developed countries and small island developing States, to implement the recommendations emanating from their respective reviews. The Council also requested that a board of trustees be established in accordance with the rules of the United Nations. 3. The Voluntary Fund was established in 2009. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) provides financial and technical assistance to States that have requested or consented to receiving such support, in the spirit of the founding resolution of the universal periodic review, in which it is stated that the objectives of the review include the improvement of the human rights situation on the ground (Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, annex, para. 4 (a)), the fulfilment of the State’s human rights obligations and commitments (ibid., para. 4 (b)) and the enhancement of the State’s capacity and of technical assistance, in consultation with, and with the consent of, the State concerned (ibid., para. 4 (c)). II. Operationalization of the Voluntary Fund A. Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund 4. The members of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights also serve as the Board of Trustees for the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance in the implementation of the universal periodic review, and they are tasked with overseeing the management of the latter Voluntary Fund. In 2019, the composition of the Board was as follows: Santiago CorcueraCabezut (Mexico); Morten Kjaerum (Denmark); Lin Lim (Malaysia); Valeriya Lutkovska (Ukraine); and Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana). Mr. Corcuera-Cabezut was nominated in August 2019 to replace the seat vacated by Carmen Rosa Villa (Peru). At a session held from 4 to 8 November 2019, the Board of Trustees elected Esi Sutherland-Addy as Chair; her mandate will run until 30 November 2021. 5. In close consultation with the various sections of OHCHR, the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund for Financial and Technical Assistance focuses its attention on broadly guiding the operationalization of the Voluntary Fund by providing policy advice. 2