19/26 United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture - Note by the Secretary-General

GE.12-10201

Human Rights Council Nineteenth session

Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the

High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture

Note by the Secretary-General*

* Late submission.

I. Introduction

A. Submission of the report

1. The present note was prepared in accordance with the arrangements approved by the Human Rights Council in its decision 2/102. It presents updated information on the activities of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. Given, however, that the thirty-fifth session of the Board of Trustees, originally planned for October 2011, was postponed to January 2012, no recommendations for grants for 2012 have been made. The present note will be complemented by the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Fund, to be submitted to the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session, detailing the outcomes of the thirty-fifth session of the Board of Trustees.

B. Mandate of the Fund

2. The Fund receives voluntary contributions from States, non-governmental organizations and private sources, including individuals. In accordance with the practice established by its Board of Trustees in 1982, the Fund provides grants to non-governmental organizations and other channels of assistance that submit projects involving medical, psychological, social, financial, legal and humanitarian or other forms of assistance to torture victims and their relatives.

C. Board of Trustees

3. The Secretary-General administers the Fund through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with the advice of the Board of Trustees, composed of five members acting in a personal capacity and appointed by the Secretary-General with due regard to equitable geographical distribution and in consultation with their Governments. On 26 October 2011, the Secretary-General reappointed Mercedes Doretti (Argentina) for a final period of three years, and appointed Natasa Kandic (Serbia), Maria Cristina de Mendonca (Portugal), Morad el-Shazly (Egypt) and Anastasia Pinto (India) for a three-year term, renewable once.

D. Admissibility criteria

4. Project admissibility criteria are outlined in the guidelines of the Fund. They require a project to be presented by a non-governmental organization or other channels of assistance. The beneficiaries must be direct victims of torture and/or direct family members. Priority is given to projects providing direct assistance to torture victims, which could consist of medical or psychological assistance, help with social or financial reintegration through vocational training for victims, and various forms of legal assistance for victims or members of their families, including assistance for seeking redress or applying for asylum. Depending on the funds available, the Fund may finance projects to organize training programmes, seminars or conferences to allow health-care professionals or other service providers to exchange best practices. Grant requests for projects involving investigation, research, studies, publications or similar activities are not admissible. The Fund may provide emergency assistance to individuals in countries where no project is receiving support. This type of request is examined according to a specific procedure outlined in the guidelines.

II. Thirty-fifth session of the Board of Trustees

5. Given that the new Board of Trustees was appointed on 22 October 2011, the thirty- fifth session of the Board, originally planned from 17 to 21 October 2011, had to be postponed to 25 January to 3 February 2012. The thirty-fifth session will last longer in order to allow the Board to take policy decisions, which are normally taken during the February session. No additional session will be organized for the decisions and recommendations to be taken for 2012. The Board will hold its thirty-sixth session in October 2012.

III. Financial situation of the Fund

6. The table below shows the contributions received from 1 January to 28 November 2011, including contributions received since the previous report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Fund (A/66/276). All contributions will be allocated to grants to be recommended by the Board at its thirty-fifth session.

Contributions and pledges received from 1 January to 30 November 2011

Donors

Amount

(United States dollars) Date of receipt

States Andorra 20 938 28 October 2011

Argentina 3 405 31 January 2011

Canada 61 169 24 March 2011

Chile 10 000 4 October 2011

Czech Republic 9 433 26 September 2011

Denmark 383 656 22 November 2011

Germany 407 407 11 May 2011

Greece 39 421 3 January 2011

Holy See 1 000 9 September 2011

Ireland 119 718 20 April 2011

Morocco 3 000 23 March 2011

Kuwait 10 000 7 April 2011

Liechtenstein 27 114 20 April 2011

Norway 183 688 27 June 2011

Republic of Korea 95 000 25 April 2011

Qatar 10 000 18 February 2011

United Arab Emirates 9 982 9 May 2011

United States of America 5 700 000 8 November 2011

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 38 948 17 November 2011

Private sources

Individuals 25 285

25 August 2011 and 10 November 2011

Total contributions 7 159 169

Donors

Amount

(United States dollars) Date of receipt

Pledges

Afghanistan 500 8 November 2010

Belgium 284 900 9 June 2011

Spain 341 997 2 November 2011

Total pledges 627 398

7. In accordance with United Nations financial regulations, programme support costs will be charged to the Trust Fund at the rate of 13 per cent of total annual expenditure. In addition, the United Nations requires that an operating cash reserve of 15 per cent of annual estimated expenditure be maintained to cover exchange rate fluctuation, any shortfalls and to meet final expenditure, including any liquidating liabilities. The operating cash reserve will be left unallotted and carried forward from year to year, until required. Expenditure for non-grant activities include, inter alia, travel expenditure for Board members, expenditure for monitoring and evaluation of projects by United Nations staff and technical assistance for the further development of the grant management system.

8. The amount available for distribution to projects will be calculated after deducting programme support costs, operating cash reserve and expenditure for non-grant activities from the total amount of funds made available in the form of contributions received between the thirty-third session of the Board of Trustees, held in October 2010, and the thirty-fifth session of the Board, to be held in January 2012, and the operating cash reserve of the previous cycle.

IV. Estimated needs for 2013

9. From 2006 to 2010, the Board progressively increased the amount awarded in grants to projects worldwide. This had been possible because the income used during this period included both the yearly voluntary contributions and unallocated amounts carried over from previous years. Those amounts resulted from more efficient management of the Fund, including the change in cycle, closer monitoring of grantees and stricter reporting requirements. The Board had decided to use the carry-overs to increase the level of funding to projects, particularly in priority regions.

10. In 2011, however, the Board faced a shortfall of US$3 million to continue to meet requests from grantees at the same level as in 2010, and therefore decided on strategic cuts for the 2011 grants cycle. As no significant additional contribution was received in 2011 for the 2012 grants cycle, the Board is still facing an important shortfall and will have to maintain or increase these strategic cuts for the 2012 grants cycle and further limit its support to new projects. If no additional contribution is received in 2012 for the 2013 grants cycle, these strategic cuts might have to be upheld or increased.

11. On the basis of the requests received for 2012, it is expected that approximately $22 million will be requested by organizations for 2013.

V. Making a contribution

12. Contributions to the Fund should always be marked “payee: United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, account CH”. Payments may be made either by

bank transfer (a) in United States dollars to the United Nations Geneva General Fund,

account No. 485001802, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, International Agencies Banking, 1166, Ave. of the Americas, 17th floor, New York, NY 10036-2708, United States of America (Swift code: CHAS US 33; ABA code: 021000021); (b) in euros to the United Nations Office at Geneva, account No. 23961901, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ, United Kingdom (Swift code: CHAS GB 2L, sort code: 60-92-42, IBAN: GB25 CHAS 6092 4223 9619 01); (c) in pounds sterling to the United Nations Office at Geneva, account No. 23961903, J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ, United Kingdom (Swift code: CHAS GB 2L, sort code: 60-92-42, IBAN: GB25 CHAS 6092 4223 9619 03); (d) in Swiss francs to the United Nations Geneva General Fund, account No. 240-C0590160.0, UBS, rue du Rhône 8, Geneva 2, Switzerland (Swift code: UBSW CH ZH 12A; IBAN: CH65 0024 0240 CO59 0160 0); (e) in other currencies to the United Nations Geneva General Fund, account No. 240-C0590160.1, UBS, rue du Rhône 8, Geneva 2, Switzerland (Swift code: UBSW CH ZH 12A; IBAN: CH65 0024 0240 CO59 0160 1); or (f) by cheque payable to the United Nations addressed to Trésorerie, Nations Unies, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. Donors are requested to inform the secretariat of the Fund and the Resource Mobilization Unit of OHCHR when a payment has been made (a copy of the bank transfer order or of the cheque would be appreciated) to facilitate effective follow-up on the official recording procedure and preparation of reports of the Secretary-General.

VI. Conclusions and recommendations

13. Pursuant to the appeals made by the General Assembly in its resolution 65/205 and by the Board of Trustees of the Fund in the previous report of the Secretary-

General (A/66/276), donors are invited to pay their contributions to the Fund before

the thirty-sixth session of the Board (October 2012) in order that the Board may take

them into account in October 2012.

14. In the light of the difficult financial situation faced in 2010 and 2011, the General Assembly and the Board have also reiterated their call to regular donors to

increase, as much as possible, their contributions to the Fund in order to provide the

Board with the necessary resources to meet the growing needs of torture victims and

members of their families worldwide.

15. The Board strongly encourages States that have not yet contributed to the Fund to do so, preferably before September 2012.