Human rights advisers are deployed through an agreement between the Office of the High Commissioner and the Resident Coordinator in order to respond to a specific need for human rights expertise in the country. Human rights advisers have the primary responsibility of ensuring that human rights are integrated into the activities of the UN agencies present in the country in which they are deployed.
Human rights advisers are staff in the Resident Coordinator’s office and report to the Resident Coordinator, but also receive guidance and support from OHCHR. Funding for their deployment comes from multiple sources, including the “Action 2” programme. As with all other field presences, human rights advisers are deployed on long-term assignments and their activities are defined on the basis of a country strategy.
At the end of 2007, human rights advisers were deployed to Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Somalia, the Southern Caucasus, Sri Lanka, and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. During the 2008-2009 biennium, human rights advisers will be deployed to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Guinea, Moldova, Niger, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.