Twelfth session of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

The twelfth session of the Board of Trustees was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 12 to 16 February 2007.

The Board considered 23 applications for travel grants to allow representatives of non-governmental organizations to attend the 32nd session of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and 129 applications for project grants.

After having examined the applications in the light of the established criteria, the Board recommended that approximately US$9,465 be spent for 4 provisional travel grants.

The Board also recommended the payment of US$269,200 for 33 project grants to be distributed before its thirteen session, scheduled to be held in 2008.

The Board held its annual meeting with regular and new donor Governments, interested Governments and other donors. The meeting was attended by representatives of 19 States: Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holy See, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mauritania, The Netherlands, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. A number of donors expressed their support for the Fund and its unique work providing direct assistance to victims.

The Board met with the Secretary of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery as well as a representative of the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Torture, and was briefed on the recent work of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children.

All the recommendations adopted by the Board of Trustees at its 12th session were approved by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on behalf of the Secretary-General on 21 March 2007.

Report of the 12th session: A/62/180