United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations

Mandate

The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations was established pursuant to General Assembly resolution 40/131 of 13 December 1985, with the purpose of assisting representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to participate in the deliberations of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights by providing them with financial assistance, funded by means of voluntary contributions from Governments, non-governmental organizations and other private or public entities.

The General Assembly, in its resolution 50/156 of 21 December 1995, decided that the Fund should also be used to assist representatives of indigenous communities and organizations authorized to participate in the deliberations of the open-ended inter-sessional Working Group of the Commission of Human Rights on the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples established by the Commission in its resolution 1995/32, as endorsed by the Economic and Social Council on 25 of July 1995.

The General Assembly further expanded the mandate of the Fund in its resolution 56/140 of 19 December 2001 by deciding that the Fund should also be used to assist representatives of indigenous communities and organizations in attending, as observers, the sessions of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/pfii).

Reports

Documents

In accordance with resolution 40/131, the Secretary-General reports every two years to the General Assembly on the activities of the Fund and its Board of Trustees. The last report by the Secretary-General was contained in document A/57/296 on the Status of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. Relevant information is also available in the Report of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Programme of Activities for the Decade, A/58/289; in the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the Commission on Human Rights on the Implementation of the Programme of Activities for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, E/CN.4/2004/79 as well as in the Note by the Secretariat to the Working Group on Indigenous Populations, E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/2003/12.

Board of Trustees

The Fund is administered in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations by the Secretary-General assisted by a Board of Trustees. The mandate of the Board is to advise the Secretary-General on the use of funds, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Board is composed of five persons with relevant experience on indigenous issues, who serve in their personal capacity. The members of the Board are appointed by the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Chairperson of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, for a three-year renewable term. At least one member of the Board of Trustees shall be a representative of a widely recognized organization of indigenous people.

The members of the Board of Trustees who have been appointed by the Secretary-General for the period 2003-2005, are themselves indigenous persons: Mr. Lars Anders Baer (Saami, Sweden), Mr. Nadir Bekirov (Crimean Tatar, Ukraine), Mr. Ahmed Mahiou (Amazigh, Algeria), Mr. José Carlos Morales Morales (Brunca, Costa Rica) and Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Igorot, Philippines), Chairperson of the Board.

Seventeenth Session of the Board

1. The 17th session of the Board of Trustees was held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva from 11 to 19 March 2004. All the members of the Board attended the session. The Board held 14 private meetings.

2. The Board considered:

a) 246 admissible applications for travel grants (to cover travel and per diem expenses) for representatives of indigenous organizations to attend the 3rd session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII) to be held in New York from 10 to 21 May 2004;

b) 266 admissible applications for travel grants (to cover travel and per diem expenses) for representatives of indigenous organizations to attend the 22nd session of the Sub-Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) to be held in Geneva from 19 to 23 July 2004;

c) 35 applications for travel grants (to cover travel and per diem expenses) for representatives of indigenous organizations to attend the 10th session of the Working Group established by the Commission of Human Rights on the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples to be held in Geneva from 13 to 24 September 2004.

3. After having examined the applications in the light of established criteria, the Board recommended:

a) 46 grants for representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to attend the PFII;

b) 47 grants for representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to attend the WGIP;

c) 13 grants for representatives of indigenous communities and organizations to attend the WGDD.

4. The Board met with representatives of donor Governments. The members expressed their gratitude for the donors' generous contributions, recommended a sustained effort and, if possible, an increase in their contributions.

5. The Board also recommended that at its next session in the year 2005, the Bureau of the Commission on Human Rights should continue to invite the Chairperson or one of the Board members to deliver a statement introducing the report on the Board's 17th session, the implementation of the Board's recommendations, the needs of the Fund and to make appeal for new contributions.

6. The biennal report of the Secretary General to the 59th session of the General Assembly on the status of the Fund and the Note by the Secretariat to the 22nd session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations contain a detailed account of the Board's recommendations approved by the Acting High Commissioner on behalf of the Secretary General.

UN VOLUNTARY FUND FOR INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS
CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF BENEFICIARIES

1. According to General Assembly resolution 40/131, the only beneficiaries of assistance from the Fund shall be representatives of indigenous populations' organizations and communities:

i) who are so considered by the Board of Trustees;

ii) who would not, in the opinion of the Board, be able to attend the sessions of the Working Groups or the Permanent Forum without the assistance provided by the Fund;

iii) who would be able to contribute to a deeper knowledge on the part of the Working Groups or the Permanent Forum of the problems affecting indigenous populations and who would secure a broad geographical representation.

2. In addition, the Secretary-General approved the following criteria upon recommendation by the Board:

(a) A travel grant approved by the Secretariat is given on an individual basis. An organization or beneficiary cannot request that a beneficiary be replaced by another one, except under exceptional circumstances, time permitting and upon approval by the Secretariat;

(b) The representatives and the organizations applying for a grant should be indigenous;

(c) The Board does not consider applications which do not provide a letter of recommendation signed by an executive of their indigenous organization. The Board will not examine a letter signed by the applicant herself/himself;

(d) The Board only considers a maximum of 2 applicants per organization;

(e) Applicants are requested to submit application forms and recommendation letters in the working languages of the Board's secretariat (English, French or Spanish); Applications in other languages will not be considered by the Board of Trustees.

(f) The Board selects both, representatives who have never participated in a session of a Working Group or the Permanent Forum and representatives who already participated and could develop specialized capacity and strengthen the core group of participants in a Working Group or the Permanent Forum;

(g) The Board encourages indigenous organizations and communities to consider gender balance and, if possible, propose one woman and one man;

(h) The Board encourages indigenous organizations and communities to consider nominating young persons;

(i) The Board encourages the former beneficiaries of the OHCHR Indigenous Fellowship Programme to apply for grants to represent their indigenous organization or community at sessions of the Working Groups or Permanent Forum by sending duly filled in application forms and meeting all the criteria for selection;

(j) Applicants are requested to indicate their responsibility in their organization or community;

(k) Applicants to the session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations are requested to refer in their statements to the specific theme of the year.

(l) The Board's recommendation in favour of an applicant to attend a session of the Permanent Forum does not exclude another recommendation to attend the Working Groups and vice-versa.

(m) The Board confirmed its practice according to which it will give priority to applicants living in their own community and country vis a vis applicants living abroad.

3. For the Working Group on the draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (WGDD) only:

According to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1995/32, in order to be able to attend the Commission on Human Rights' Working Groups, organizations must in addition have the ECOSOC consultative status or be authorized by the ECOSOC Committee on Non- Governmental Organizations.

4. For the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues only:

In accordance with ECOSOC resolution 2000/22 "…non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Council may participate as observers; organizations of indigenous people may equally participate as observers in accordance with the procedures which have been applied in the Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protections of Human Rights".

According to the ECOSOC resolution 2000/22, the Permanent Forum has a mandate to discuss indigenous issues within the mandate of the Council relating to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. Applicants must therefore refer in their statements to these issues.

The criteria for selection are reflected in the application forms. Application forms have to be received by the secretariat of the Fund and Board by 1st October 2004, in order to be presented to the Board at its next session.

Contributions

According to resolution 40/131, the Fund can receive voluntary contributions from Governments, non-governmental organizations and other private or public entities.

I. Contributions received from 1992- 22 March 2004 1/

State	Amount in US$	Pledged in NY/GE	Local currency	Pledged on
Bolivia	1,000.00	NY	.	2-3.11.1999
Chile	5,000.00 1 000.00	NY NY	.	7-8.11.2001 5.11.2002
Denmark	43,278.00	GE	300,000DKK	27.03.2003
Venezuela	5,000.00 5,000.00	NY NY	.	07.11.2001 5.11.2002

How to contribute to the Fund

Governments, non-governmental organizations and other private or public entities can contribute to the Fund. For information on how to contribute, you are kindly requested to contact the secretariat of the Fund.

Contacts

For further information about the Fund and how to contribute can be obtained from the Secretariat of the Fund. Please contact Ms. Eulàlia Ortadó, PW 2-041, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. Tel. (41-22) 917 9145, 917 9341, 917 9164 Fax (41-22) 917 9066. Email: eortado-rosich@ohchr.org/emonsalve@ohchr.org