Advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights – SecGen report (excerpts)

Advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights

Report of the Secretary-General*

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* Late submission.

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I. Introduction

1. The Secretary-General submits to the Commission on Human Rights and, subsequently to the Human Rights Council, an annual report on technical cooperation in the field of human rights, reflecting the discussions of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights. The Council, in its decision 2/102, requested the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue with the fulfilment of their activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights, and to update the relevant reports and studies. The present report is therefore submitted as an update of the previous report,¹ and focuses on the work of the Board of Trustees of the Voluntary Fund in 2010.

2. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had previously interpreted decision 2/102 as extending previous Commission of Human Rights reports and providing for an annual reporting cycle. This interpretation had not received any objections to date, and the Office's interpretation was thus deemed to have received the tacit approval of Member States.  However, an objection was placed on the record in 2010, albeit in the context of another report which also used Decision 2/102 as the basis for its annual reporting. OHCHR has thus further reviewed the said Decision, and concludes that with it, the Human Rights Council sought to fill a technical gap by ensuring that the deadlines for reports which were to be submitted to the 62nd session of the Human Rights Commission would be extended by one year, for submission to the subsequent substantive Human Rights Council session. With this transition period over, and the objection now on the record to the previous interpretation of annual reporting cycles, if the Human Rights Council wishes to see a continuation of this reporting mandate, a new Human Rights Council Resolution or Decision on the matter should be tabled.

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V. OHCHR technical cooperation: capacity- and institution-building activities

15.  The Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation provides support for technical cooperation activities to strengthen capacity and institution-building activities in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Europe and Central Asia region, the Americas region, and the Africa region, which represents the largest proportion.

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C. Middle East and North Africa region

29.  The Board was given an overview of OHCHR field presences in the Middle East and North Africa region. It learned about the projects and activities funded by the Voluntary Fund in the region, including strategies within the context of technical cooperation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

30.  The Agreement with the Government of Mauritania to establish an OHCHR country office was signed in September 2009 between the High Commissioner and the Government of Mauritania. The Country Office will be established in Nouakchott by the end of 2010.

31.  In the OPT, the extent and complexity of the human rights challenges has required a high degree of adaptability on the part of the field presence. The Board was informed that the main priorities for OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territories centre on accountability, right to life and security of person, freedom of movement and discrimination. It was further informed regarding the OHCHR leadership of the Protection Cluster Working Group in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as the Office’s monitoring capabilities and activities, in response to the Human Rights Council's requests. With respect to monitoring, the urgent need for OHCHR to give East Jerusalem increased attention was stressed. The field presence's continuing provision of technical cooperation services and capacity-building activities to the Palestinian authorities were noted.

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Notes

¹A/HRC/13/61