The World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna in June 1993, gave heightened emphasis to the need for the international community to respond to the requests of States for technical cooperation to strengthen the institutions of human rights and human rights practices. The concrete response to this is to be found in the programme of technical cooperation in the field of human rights implemented by the Centre for Human Rights. The programme supports a wide range of projects aimed at, among other things, developing national plans of action for human rights, providing assistance in drafting constitutional provisions relating to human rights, reforming legislation, human rights aspects of elections, prison reform, developing and strengthening national institutions, strengthening the judiciary, training judges, prosecutors and lawyers in human rights, and training police and the armed forces. Technical cooperation projects also support regional human rights institutions such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies and the Arab Institute for Human Rights. Many of these activities are financed through the United Nations voluntary fund for technical cooperation in the field of human rights under the guidance of its board of trustees, composed of eminent international experts.
The preventive capacities of this programme have grown in importance. Contributions have been made during the past year to support the peace process in Palestine through the training of the Palestinian Police Force, to strengthening the human rights structures in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), to the peace-keeping operation in Mozambique through human rights training for the ONUMOZ civilian police component and in the former Yugoslavia through training for UNPROFOR officials and the national police of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Assistance continues in Cambodia and in Rwanda and Burundi.
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