Mandate

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a department of the United Nations Secretariat, is mandated to promote and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by all people, of all rights established in the Charter of the United Nations and in international human rights laws and treaties. The mandate includes preventing human rights violations, securing respect for all human rights, promoting international cooperation to protect human rights, coordinating related activities throughout the United Nations, and strengthening and streamlining the United Nations system in the field of human rights. In addition to its mandated responsibilities, the Office leads efforts to integrate a human rights approach within all work carried out by United Nations agencies.

OHCHR's priorities are set out in its Strategic Management Plan 2006-2007 and follow the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and the Charter of the United Nations.

Organizational Structure

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is composed of four branches - the Treaties and Commission Branch (TCB), the Special Procedures Branch (SPB), the Research and Right to Development Branch (RRDB), and the Capacity Building and Field Operations Branch (CBB) - in addition to the Executive Office of the High Commissioner and a number of Units and one service that report to the Deputy High Commissioner.

Executive Office

The primary task of the Executive Office is to support the High Commissioner and the Deputy High Commissioner in the overall management of OHCHR. This includes maintaining certain procedures that are fundamental to OHCHR operations, consolidating the management and policy coordination processes, strengthening policy-analysis capabilities, helping the High Commissioner and her deputy to develop programme priorities in general as well as, more particularly, in the area of warning and urgent response.

The New York office represents the High Commissioner at the United Nations Headquarters, at meetings of policy-making organs, at inter-departmental and inter-agency meetings and at meetings with non-governmental organizations. The office provides policy advice and recommendations on substantive matters; supplies information and advice on human rights and provides substantive support on human rights issues to the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other intergovernmental bodies.

Treaties and Commission Branch

This branch services the human rights treaty bodies, the Commission on Human Rights and related working groups, the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture. It prepares and submits the documents that inform the various treaty bodies, processes communications submitted to treaty bodies under optional procedures, follows up on recommendations and decisions taken at treaty-body meetings, and helps to build national capacities to implement treaty-body recommendations. The branch also maintains databases on human rights documentation related to the treaty bodies, the Commission and the Sub-Commission.

Special Procedures Branch

This branch provides support to the fact-finding and investigatory mechanisms of the Commission on Human Rights. These include special rapporteurs, special representatives and experts, and working groups mandated by the Commission and/or the United Nations Economic and Social Council, with the aim of documenting human rights violations. Mandate-holders investigate specific types of human rights violations and conduct studies on particular themes and situations from a human rights perspective. The work of special rapporteurs and the working groups in drawing the attention of Member States and the public to human rights violations in certain countries or to specific human rights issues is integral to human rights protection.

Research and Right to Development Branch

This branch is responsible for promoting and protecting the right to development. It does so by conducting research, providing support for the Working Group on the Right to Development, mainstreaming human rights in development activities, and identifying rights-based development and humanitarian strategies to eradicate poverty. The branch also focuses on human rights issues that affect indigenous peoples and minorities, develops initiatives on gender issues, women's rights, reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, disability, and trafficking; and provides advice on the rule of law. It services the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. The branch also manages OHCHR's documentation centre and library.

Capacity Building and Field Operations Branch

This branch develops, implements, monitors and evaluates advisory services and other technical-assistance projects at the request of governments. It also provides support to human rights fact-finding missions and investigations. The branch undertakes activities to strengthen the capacity of national institutions, supports human rights missions and the human rights components of the United Nations peace missions, and works on human rights issues with the United Nations Country Teams. OHCHR field presences report to the Chief of the Capacity Building and Field Operations.

OHCHR has regional representatives in Bangkok, Thailand; Santiago de Chile, Chile; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Almaty, Kazakstan; Beirut, Lebanon; Pretoria, South Africa; and Yaoundé; Cameroon. Offices with monitoring mandates are located in Afghanistan, Colombia, Cambodia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro. The Office also works through United Nations agencies, programmes and missions to conduct technical cooperation activities at sub-regional and national levels. In addition, it works to develop the human rights component of complex United Nations missions, both peacekeeping and peacemaking, in cooperation with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Political Affairs.

Other Units and Services

The Administrative Service provides administrative support, including budgeting, financial management, personnel recruitment and administration of human resources, procurement, asset management, staff security and general logistical support to field activities. It also provides administrative support for recruitment of human rights components of United Nations peace missions.

The Resource Mobilization Unit works to obtain stable, predictable and flexible funding from donors. It advises and briefs the High Commissioner, the Deputy High Commissioner and senior managers on funding strategies and issues; maintains and strengthens relations with donors by regularly exchanging information, organizing annual consultations and visiting donors capitals; works to expand the donor base; prepares the Annual Appeals, Annual Reports and other submissions and reports to donors; and follows up on pledges and contributions.

The new Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit takes the lead in creating an overall strategic plan for the Office that coordinates programme planning and aligns the planning of activities with availability of regular and voluntary resources; provides a secretariat for the Project Review Committee; and ensures a systematic approach to evaluations and lessons learned.

The Public Information Unit builds support for human rights and OHCHR. It provides spokespersons for the Office; prepares speeches for the High Commissioner; maintains and coordinates OHCHR's website; prepares a newsletter and other materials; and advises the High Commissioner, the Deputy High Commissioner and senior managers on media and public information matters.

The Public Affairs Unit builds advocacy for human rights and develops strategies to reach out to different regions and cultures by preparing briefs, promoting materials, presentations on key initiatives, and presenting OHCHR's positions on emerging issues to partners; the Unit is also OHCHR's NGO focal point.

Information Management is essential for effective human rights promotion and protection, and IT equipment must be updated regularly to keep up with technological developments.

The High Commissioner

The High Commissioner for Human rights, who has the rank of Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, heads the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The post of High Commissioner was established in December 1993 by a General Assembly resolution, in accordance with a recommendation contained in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The resolution specifies that the High Commissioner is the principal United Nations official responsible for United Nations human rights activities, and that the High Commissioner performs his/her duties under the direction and authority of the Secretary-General. The resolution gives the High Commissioner the broad mandate to promote and protect all human rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural.

Ms. Louise Arbour was appointed High Commissioner in July 2004; Ms. Kyung-wha Kang joined the Office as its Deputy High Commissioner in January 2007.

Ms. Arbour was preceded by Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello (2002-2003), Ms. Mary Robinson (1997-2002) and Mr. José Ayala Lasso (1994-1997). Mr. Bertrand G. Ramcharan was Acting High Commissioner from 2003-2004.