16/9/2005
New Report on The UN Voluntary Fund For Victims of Torture

Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week asked donor societies and governments to more than double their contributions for assisting torture victims and their families to $15 million in 2006. In a report he also reflected the fundamental change in the way the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture will provide monies to NGOs that assist torture victims by asking donors to make their payments sooner.

The 24 year old Fund helps almost 200 organisations provide medical, social and psychological assistance to torture victims, which could include direct medical and psychological help, social and financial reintegration through vocational training, and legal assistance to secure compensation for victims and their families. It is administered through the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and a board of trustees appointed by the Secretary General.

The report says the United States and other Western nations are big donors, contributing 98.4 per cent of the fund while Latin America and Eastern Europe each contributed 0.4 per cent. As a result the former received 63 per cent of the grant monies, whereas the latter received 13 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

This discrepancy is partly due to the fact that more than half the grants made to Western countries were made to asylum-seekers from other geographic regions (outside of the Western countries). Generally in assigning grants, "Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean are given priority," the report says.