Organization

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is divided into organizational units, as described below. The Office is headed by a High Commissioner with the rank of Under-Secretary-General.

Administrative Section

The Administrative Section is headed by a Chief who is accountable to the High Commissioner. The core functions of the Administrative Section, in addition to those set out in section 7 of Secretary-General's bulletin ST/SGB/1997/5, are as follows:

1. Advising the High Commissioner on the budgetary, financial and personnel matters relating to the human rights programme;
2. Assisting the High Commissioner and appropriate staff in the discharge of their financial, personnel and general administrative responsibilities and administering the associate expert and internship programmes.

New York Office

The New York Office is headed by a Director who is accountable to the High Commissioner. The core functions of the New York Office are as follows:

1. Representing the High Commissioner at Headquarters, at meetings of policy-making bodies, with permanent missions of Member States, at interdepartmental and inter-agency meetings, with non-governmental organizations and professional groups, at academic conferences and with the media;
2. Providing policy advice and recommendations on substantive matters to the High Commissioner;
3. Supplying information and advice on human rights to the Executive Office of the Secretary-General;
4. Providing substantive support on human rights issues to the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and other policy-making bodies established in New York;
5. Providing materials and information to the permanent missions, United Nations departments, agencies and programmes, non-governmental organizations, the media and others regarding the human rights programme;
6. Providing support to the High Commissioner and other officials, and to special rapporteurs and representatives when on mission in New York;
7. Undertaking other specific assignments as decided by the High Commissioner.

Research and Right to Development Branch

The Research and Right to Development Branch is headed by a Chief who is accountable to the High Commissioner. The core functions of the Research and Right to Development Branch are as follows:

1. Promoting and protecting the right to development, in particular by:
   1. Supporting intergovernmental groups of experts on the preparation of the strategy for the right to development;
   2. Assisting in the analysis of the voluntary reports by States to the High Commissioner on the progress and steps taken for the realization of the right to development and on obstacles encountered;
   3. Carrying out research projects on the right to development and preparing substantive outputs for submission to the General Assembly, the Commission on Human Rights and treaty bodies;
   4. Assisting in the substantive preparation of advisory service projects and educational material on the right to development;
   5. Providing substantive analysis and support to the High Commissioner in his or her mandate to enhance system-wide support for the right to development;
2. Carrying out substantive research projects on the whole range of human rights issues of interest to United Nations human rights bodies in accordance with the priorities established by the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and resolutions of policy-making bodies;
3. Providing substantive services to human rights organs engaged in standard-setting activities;
4. Preparing documents, reports or draft reports, summaries and synthesis and position papers in response to particular requests, as well as substantive contributions to information materials and publications;
5. Providing policy analysis, advice and guidance on substantive procedures;
6. Managing the information services of the human rights programme, including the documentation centre and library, enquiry services and the human rights databases;
7. Preparing studies on relevant articles of the Charter of the United Nations for the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs.

Support Services Branch

1. Planning, preparing and servicing sessions/meetings of the Commission on Human Rights, the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and related working groups and of the committees established by human rights treaty bodies and their working groups;
2. Ensuring that substantive support is provided in a timely manner to the human rights treaty body concerned, drawing on the appropriate resources of the human rights programme;
3. Preparing state party reports for review by the treaty body concerned and following up on decisions and recommendations;
4. Preparing or coordinating the preparation and submission of all substantive and other documents and the support from other management units to the activities of treaty bodies serviced, and following up on decisions taken at meetings of those bodies;
5. Planning, preparing and servicing sessions of boards of trustees of the following voluntary funds: United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture, United Nations Voluntary Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations and United Nations Voluntary Fund for the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, and implementing relevant decisions;
6. Processing communications submitted to treaty bodies under optional procedures and communications under the procedures established by the Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1503 (XLVIII) of 27 May 1970 and ensuring follow-up.

Activities and Programmes Branch

The Activities and Programmes Branch is headed by a Chief who is accountable to the High Commissioner. The core functions of the Activities and Programmes Branch are as follows:

1. Developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating advisory services and technical assistance projects at the request of Governments;
2. Managing the Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in the Field of Human Rights;
3. Implementing the Plan of Action of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, including the development of information and educational materials;
4. Providing substantive and administrative support to human rights fact-finding and investigatory mechanisms, such as special rapporteurs, representatives and experts and working groups mandated by the Commission on Human Rights and/or the Economic and Social Council to deal with specific country situations or phenomena of human rights violations worldwide, as well as the General Assembly's Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories;
5. Planning, supporting and evaluating human rights field presences and missions, including the formulation and development of best practice, procedural methodology and models for all human rights activities in the field;
6. Managing voluntary funds for human rights field presences.