UN Human Rights Treaties

UNITED NATIONS
General Assembly
Distr. GENERAL
A/37/618
16  November   1982
ORIGINAL.     ENGLISH
Thirty-seventh session Agenda  item 12
RETORT OF  THE  ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
United  Nations  voluntary  Fund For  Victims of  Torture
Report  of   the Secretary-General
1.    in  its  resolution  36/151 of  16 December   1981,   the General Assembly decided to redesignate  the  former  united  Nations Trust  Fund  for  Chile  as the   united Nations voluntary  Fund for  victims of  Torture and   to extend  its mandate in order  to make it capable of   receiving  voluntary contributions for distribution,   through established channels of  assistance,  as humanitarian,   legal and  financial  aid to individuals whose  human  rights had been severely violated as a  result of   torture and to relatives of  such  victims,     in accordance  with  resolution   36/151,   priority was to be given to aid to victims of   violations by states  in which the human  rights situation had been  the  subject of   resolutions or decisions adopted by either the Assembly,   the Economic and Social Council or  the  Commission on Hunan Rights.
2.    General  Assembly  resolution  36/151 also provided  that  the  united Nations Voluntary Fund for  victims of  Torture should be administered   in accordance with the Financial Regulations of   the united Nations  by the secretary-General,  with the advice of  a Board  of Trustees of  the  Fund,  composed  of  a chairman  and  four members with wide experience  in the  field of  human  rights,   acting   in  their personal capacity,   to be appointed  by  the Secretary-General with due  regard   to equitable geographical distribution and  in consultation with their Governments.     The  Assembly also appealed  to all Governments  to respond  favourably  to  requests  for contributions to the  Fund.
3.    On 11 November 1982,   the Secretary-General announced  that,   in  accordance with the provisions of   resolution   36/151,   he  had appointed  the  following persons to serve for a  three-year term on  the Board of  Trustees of   the united  Nations Voluntary  Fund  for  victims of  Torture;
 
82-31653     0584d   (E)
 

 
A/37/618
English page  2
Mr.   Hans DANELIUS   (Sweden)
Mo.   Elizabeth ODIO-BENITO   (Costa Rica)
Mr.  waleed SADI   (Jordan)
Mr.   AMOS WARK   (Kenya)
Consideration is being given to the appointment of  a fifth member on the Board of Trustees.
4.    consultations are under way with the members of  the Board of  Trustees in order to determine a suitable date  for  the  first session of  the Board,     in preparation for the first session of the Board of Trustees,   the Secretariat has been collecting background  information that might assist  the Board  in carrying out  its mandate.
5.    in its resolution 1982/43 of  11 March 1982,   the commission on Human Rights recognized  the need to provide assistance  to victims of  torture  in a purely humanitarian spirit and called upon all Governments  in a position to do  so  to respond favourably to requests for contributions to the Fund and  requested  the Secretary-General to transmit  to all Governments the commission's appeal for contributions to the Fund.     By a note  verbale dated  7 May  1982,   the Secretary-General transmitted  the Commission's appeal to all Governments.
6.    AS at  15 November  1932,   the following contributions had  been  received  by  the united  Nations Voluntary  Fund for victims of  Torture during   1982;
us dollars
Cyprus    ,        500. 00
Denmark    ,        114,600.05
Netherlands        4 5,000.00
Norway           100, 000. 00
Sweden        150,000.00
410,100. 05
7.       By a note verbale dated  19 October  1982,   the  Permanent Mission of  Finland to the united Nations office at Geneva informed  the centre  for  Human Rights that  the Government of  Finland  had decided  to contribute  450,000 Finnish marks (approximately $ us  81   000)   to the  united Nations voluntary Fund  for  Victims of Torture,