United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture
Report of the Secretary-General
Statement on behalf of members of the Group of Friends of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture
Delivered by Permanent Representative of Ireland
14.03.2025
Thank you Mr President / Mr / Ms Vice-President,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of members* of the Group of Friends of the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
The Group of Friends is a cross-regional group of States that aims to support and raise awareness on the Fund’s work in seeking redress for victims of torture globally and rebuilding their lives. We welcome the presentation of the Secretary-General’s report.
The Fund plays a fundamental role in enabling access to medical, psychological, legal, social, humanitarian and other essential aid for victims of torture and their families and in ensuring that their voices are heard and amplified.
Examples of vital support provided by the Fund in 2024 alone include the contribution of organisations supported by the Fund in ensuring accountability for perpetrators of torture in Liberia and in securing a landmark ruling before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the systematic persecution, harassment, stigmatization and surveillance of members of the José Alvear Restrepo lawyers’ collective in Colombia.
We are therefore concerned that the needs of torture survivors continue to outweigh the response. As the Fund’s report states, despite an increase in funding in 2024, there is still a gap of over $7million dollars for the 2025 annual grant cycle. This represents 71 civil society organizations that will not receive the Fund’s support in their efforts to provide tailored services to more than 54,000 torture survivors and their family members in 2025 alone.
Additional funding is required to enable the Fund to respond more adequately to the growing demands for support that it has received from rehabilitation centres and other civil society actors worldwide. We therefore encourage all States to contribute to the Fund as a concrete manifestation of their commitment to uphold the right to rehabilitation for victims of torture and the abolition of torture, in line with article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Thank you.
* Austria, Chile, Czechia, Denmark, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Switzerland.