UN Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Mandate

The Fund was established by the General Assembly in 1991 (A/RES/46/122) with the purpose to provide, through established channels of assistance, humanitarian, legal and financial aid to individuals who are victims of contemporary forms of slavery.

The Fund focuses particularly on individuals who suffer from the most severe forms of human rights violations occurring in the context of slavery, as well as the most identifiable contemporary forms of slavery – chattel slavery, debt bondage, human trafficking, serfdom, child labour and servitude, forced labour, and/or forced marriage.

The distinctive value of the Fund is its ability to provide concrete assistance to the victims of contemporary forms of slavery including housing, legal aid, psycho-social support, food, medical care, training and sustainable sources of incomes. 

Previous projects undertaken with the Fund’s grants include medical, psychological, education and housing assistance aid for women and girls victims of forced marriages in the Middle East region, vocational training to victims of human trafficking for sexual and economic exploitation in the African region; support to rehabilitation centers for sexually and physically abused street children in the Latin American region, support for children used as jockey camels and projects to identify and release bonded labourers in the agriculture, carpet and construction industries. The Fund bridges the gaps not addressed by other UN programmes and has a dynamic and integrated approach.

Additional information on the Fund can be found in reports of the Fund, to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

Board of Trustees

The Fund is administrated by the Secretary General, who is advised by a Board of Trustees. The Board is composed of five persons with relevant experience in the field of human rights, and contemporary forms of slavery in particular, serving in their personal capacity. The members of the Board are appointed by the Secretary-General with due regard to equitable geographical distribution, for three-year, once renewable terms.

How to contribute to the Fund

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

The need of NGOs for support to address contemporary forms of slavery continues to mount. At its fourteenth session, to be held from 14 to 19 September 2009, the Board will examine about 320 project applications, which together amount to a total of US$ 4,241,000. To meet this overwhelming number of requests for funding, the Board of Trustees urges donors to increase their contributions if possible in order to provide the Board with the resources to meet the growing needs of victims of contemporary forms of slavery.

Donors are invited to contribute annually to the Fund before the session of the Board in September of each year.  

Contact us

Mailing address: 
UNVFVS
OHCHR
Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

Physical location:
OHCHR - Motta
48 Giuseppe Motta
1202 Geneva

Tel.: (41-22) 928 9737 or 928 9314/Fax (41-22) 928 9010
Email: SlaveryFund@ohchr.org