ORIGINS AND STRUCTURE

The position of High Commissioner for Human Rights was established by General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993 following a recommendation contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. In connection with the programme of reform of the United Nations (A/51/950, para.79), the then Centre for Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights were consolidated in a single unit, known as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as of 15 September 1997.

The new office is a full department in the UN Secretariat, with enhanced authority and a mandate to actively promote universal enjoyment of all human rights and play a leading role in this sphere.

Two years after merging with the Centre for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner is now headed by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. It has undergone a major overhaul of its management structure, designed to increase efficiency, eliminate duplication, promote accountability, and build up expertise. In a new dimension to its work, the office is now being looked upon to provide leadership and substantive support in ensuring that human rights principles are integrated throughout the entire UN system, in accordance with Secretary-General Kofi Annan's 1997 UN reform program.

The OHCHR is headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the rank of Under-Secretary-General, who is the United Nations official with principal responsibility for UN human rights activities. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, in the performance of his or her activities, is assisted by a Deputy High Commissioner.

OHCHR headquarters are in Geneva, where the office is organized into three primary management units called branches, which are charged with operationalizing its strategic objectives. A description of each branch follows.

Research and Right to Development Branch: This branch engages in research and has primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of the right to development. This right incorporates the principles of self-determination, economic and social justice, popular participation, and sovereignty of a people's natural wealth and resources and embraces the sum total of human rights--civil, political, economic, social and cultural. In addition to advancing the right to development, the branch conducts research into various issues of interest to UN human rights bodies, and manages the information services and databases of the OHCHR. The branch also has a methodology unit.

Activities and Programmes Branch: This branch prepares, plans and evaluates technical cooperation activities, field activities and missions; supports the activities of special rapporteurs, experts, and working groups (known collectively as the "special procedures"), which track and investigate specific types of systematic human rights violations; and provides the UN Commission on Human Rights with information on these kinds of violations. Activities fall into two main areas, headed by team leaders or coordinators: thematic mandates, where violations are tracked and responded to by type; and the geographic desks, which gather and analyze country information and provide support to a wide range of in-country initiatives including the establishment of national human rights institutions, the work of country special rapporteurs, and the office's own field presence.

Support Services Branch: This branch services deliberations of the human rights Treaty Bodies, as well as the Commission on Human Rights and related working groups, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and the various voluntary funds. Among other things, the branch prepares and submits substantive documents used to inform the various bodies' deliberations, processes communications submitted to treaty bodies, and follows up on the decisions taken at meetings of those bodies.

To implement human rights at the field level, the office has expanded its field presence. There are currently 22 human rights country operations underway--up from only one in 1992--and hundreds of practical assistance, or "technical cooperation," projects on the ground in over 60 countries of the world. These activities were limited to an average of two per year a decade ago. OHCHR field offices help relevant actors in the country carry out an assessment of the situation in order to address the promotion and protection of human rights. They assist governments to prepare, implement and evaluate programmes in collaboration with other UN agencies, NGOs and academic institutions. The field offices are under responsibility of the OHCHR officer for that country.

OHCHR received voluntary contributions amounting to US$37.3 million in 1998. An amount of US$43.4 million has been allocated to OHCHR from the UN regular budget for the biennium 2000/2001.

OHCHR MANDATE AND PRIORITIES
The overarching priorities of the Office of the High Commissioner are set by the General Assembly and are contained in a document entitled Medium term plan for 1998-2001. This plan derives from the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (created after the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights) and the UN Charter. It contains a wide-ranging mandate. This includes promoting the right to development, increasing recognition of economic, social and cultural rights, improving the treaty monitoring and "special procedures" systems, helping states implement human rights plans of action at the national level, devising preventive strategies, integrating the rights of women and the girl-child into the UN system, developing effective measures to combat racism, and conducting an education and public information program.

OHCHR services the Commission on Human Rights, the main intergovernmental policy-making body concerned with human rights issues, the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and its working groups, the six conventional treaty bodies (Human Rights Committee; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; Committee Against Torture; and Committee on the Rights of the Child) as well as the extra-conventional mechanisms (special rapporteurs, representatives and independent experts).

OHCHR also manages the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, the UN Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations, and the UN Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

OHCHR implements the Human Rights Technical Cooperation Programme, financed through the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights. The programme focuses on countries in transition to democracy and countries that request technical expertise in establishing national human rights structures. Human rights observation often takes place in conjunction with advisory services, complementing technical assistance projects by identifying problems and providing feedback on their effectiveness. Within the programme a major effort is devoted to the establishment and strengthening of national human rights institutions as primary mechanisms for translating international concepts and norms into a local culture.

CURRENT PRIORITIES OF OHCHR
Racism
The Third UN World Conference on Racism will take place in South Africa in 2001. The High Commissioner has been designated as Secretary General, and her office has been charged with the task of preparing the conference. This involves not only consultation and organization, but also making a substantive contribution to the agendas of the five regional preparatory conferences and then to the conference itself. The OHCHR is now planning its activities and assessing its needs.

The conference's objectives, set out by the General Assembly, include making "concrete recommendations" for national, international and regional action. These will build on analytical and reporting work to be done by UN human rights bodies, e.g. the Convention on the Elimination of Racism and Discrimination (CERD) Committee, the Sub Commission, and the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism; on expert meetings; and on discussions at the preparatory regional meetings. Preparatory committees and regional conferences are being planned to raise awareness on the conference.

Trafficking
One of the most serious challenges facing the international community today is the problem of trafficking of persons and the web of human rights violations it represents. The issue's cross cutting nature makes it an apt one for the office to take up not only because the promotion of economic, social and cultural rights is at the top of the UN's agenda, but also because no other UN agency focuses on trafficking from the standpoint of human rights of the victims.

OHCHR already works on trafficking--through the treaty bodies (notably the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the special rapporteurs (notably, on the sale of children, and on violence against women). In February 1999 an experienced staff member was given full time responsibility for the issue and detailed planning is now being done.

Business and Human Rights
At the l999 Davos (Switzerland) meeting, the UN Secretary-General called on business leaders to "enact a set of core values in the area of human rights, labor standards and environmental practices." At the same time, he offered UN assistance in incorporating these rights, naming OHCHR as a key agency.

The Office of the High Commissioner is developing a two faceted strategy: with business and within the UN human rights system. First, OHCHR is increasingly working with business leaders and associations to reflect basic human rights, labor standards and environmental principles into management practices to develop effective monitoring systems and share best practices. Within the UN, OHCHR simultaneously is working to develop the capacity of treaty bodies and special rapporteurs to address situations in which business is itself complicit in violations.

NGO RELATIONS

OHCHR is a part of the United Nations secretariat, therefore most of the relations with NGOs are channeled through the NGO Unit of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs or through the NGO Section of the Department of Public Information.

NGOs that have received consultative status under Article 71 of the Charter of the United Nations sit as observers at public meetings of the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. In accordance with the rules established by ECOSOC they can make oral statements and submit written documents. In their interventions at such meetings, NGOs call attention to human rights situations needing action of the OHCHR and suggest studies that should be carried out and instruments that should be drafted. They also assist in the actual drafting of declarations and treaties. NGOs may also submit reports alleging violations of human rights for confidential consideration by the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Protection and Promotion of Human Rights under the "1503" procedure. Under the 1503 procedure complaints in any written form about violations of human rights may be made against any country or territory in the world. If complaints received by the UN reveal a pattern of serious human rights violations in a country, the matter can be brought to the attention of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. The views of NGOs are also sought on a wide range of issues where such consultation is appropriate; and the views and information provided are included in official reports.

OHCHR's approach is to be as inclusive as possible. It works also that NGOs which do not have consultative status with ECOSOC and with all not-for-profit actors who are not governmental or intergovernmental--as for example in the framework of the ACT Project.

ACT PROJECT
The ACT Project (Assisting Communities Together) was launched in 1998 as a practical contribution to the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It focuses on a "bottom-up approach" by emphasizing the role that civil society plays in the promotion and protection of human rights. The long-term objectives of the ACT Project are to empower people at the local level to be pro-active in ensuring greater respect for human rights and to strengthen partnerships between the United Nations and local human rights constituencies. The project supports institutions and NGOs, as well as individuals undertaking human rights initiatives by providing micro-grants of up to US$2,000. It is a good example of cooperation within the UN system, since the ACT Project is made feasible through a partnership between OHCHR, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Offices for Project Services (UNOPS).

Under the pilot phase of the ACT Project, over 300 completed applications proposing activities for ACT Project funding were submitted to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights through UNDP Resident Representatives and OHCHR field offices who provided written comments and recommendations for each application submitted. Sixty-nine grants totaling US$130,000 from voluntary funds for the 50th Anniversary were awarded in 24 countries in the pilot phase of the project. Various activities have been supported under the pilot phase, aimed at raising awareness about and promoting either human rights as a general issue, or fundamental rights of target groups (children, women, people infected by HIV/AIDS). More than 7,000 persons have directly benefitted from the supported activities; indirect beneficiaries (families and friends of addressed persons) number in the tens of thousands. The feedback from both the grants recipients and UN field staff shows enthusiasm for the ACT Project and the need for long term support through the ACT Project.

For any further information, please contact: Alexandre Girard, ACT Project Coordinator,
OHCHR, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, telephone + 41-22/917 9279, fax + 41-22/917 9014.