OHCHR 2020-2024 (2025)

OHCHR narrative reports cover the activities and results from OHCHR's Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) and the Contingency Fund (CF). The nature of emergency responses and contingency funds, which is identified by both Sida and OHCHR in the Appraisal, is that results are mainly on the output level. The planned outcomes could be out of the hands of OHCHR. Therefore, most reported results are at the output level. However, it is clear that the contributions have strengthened the information and capacity on human rights and contributed to UN Country Teams understanding and to certain extent also action in relation to human rights. Contingency Fund (1 January - 31 December 2021) In 2021, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, OHCHR managed to utilise the Contingency Fund for emergency deployments. 15 human rights officers were deployed to seven countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Bolivia, Niger, Chad, The Gambia and Haiti) with deteriorating human rights situations, including during electoral periods. OHCHR conducted five emergency deployments in the context of elections in Bolivia, Chad, Niger, the Gambia, and Uganda. These surge capacity deployments strengthened the capacity of OHCHR to perform key activities in the electoral context, including monitoring human rights; developing human rights-based early warning and prevention mechanisms; responding to protection requests; and capacity building and engagement with stakeholders. The findings of these deployments also enhanced the capacity of OHCHR country offices to provide timely reports on the human rights situation to other UN actors, such as UNCT. Emergency Response Programme (1 January 2021 - 30 June 2022) ERTs continued to work with UNCTs to support stronger and evidence-based human rights risk analysis in the Common Country Analysis. The CCA, and in particular the multi-dimensional risk framework, provides a strong basis for identifying prevention priorities for UNCTs and undertaking more regular early warning monitoring. This area of work provides with an opportunity to establish a baseline for early warning and prevention work and a common understanding of the risk factors present as well as undertaking an assessment of the likelihood and potential impact of risks materialising. These are important steps in strengthening a culture within the UN of undertaking collective analysis of risks and putting prevention at the core of its work. Increased capacity at regional level on prevention work has opened up opportunities for ERTs to work with regional entities on thematic issues of concern, particularly UNDP, DCO, DPPA and OCHA on regional early warning platforms/crisis risk dashboards, as well as other UN partners on a range of thematic and systems-based work areas. Some few examples per ERT: South East Asia Over the last three years, the ERT has assisted in advancing the UNs work on the prevention agenda and in particular has worked on integrating human rights risk analysis into new Common Country Analysis (CCAs) for countries in the region by facilitating trainings and workshops and providing written input. In 2021 and 2022, the ERT has facilitated training sessions on prevention and human rights risk analysis for UNCTs and UN staff in Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific region, Nepal, Iran and the Maldives, in addition to providing inputs to draft CCAs for Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan, and the Pacific. This work consisted in raising the UN system at country levels awareness on human rights risks and setting a baseline for more continuous risk monitoring and the identification of mitigation and prevention priorities. Southern Africa The ERT contributed to providing technical support to UNCTs in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Zambia in the development of the CCAs and UNSDCFs. In the case of the Zambia CCA, the ERT prepared a multidimensional risk assessment framework, contributed to the LNOB analysis, and provided inputs on civil, political and socioeconomic rights related risks and concerns. In Zambia, the ERT also set up and operationalised a Prevention Platform in the context of general elections. In 2022, the ERT initiated a process of creating regular situation reports for Angola ahead of the general elections in August 2022, and monthly sub-regional snapshots on human rights early warning analysis to be shared internally and with selected RCOs/UNCTs. It also started a pilot project of in-depth actors mapping analysis for Eswatini, in order to strengthen the prevention strategy and advocacy messages shared with the RC and UNCT. West Africa The ERT fostered a shared situational analysis across OHCHR and UN colleagues working on West Africa, based on the production of regular analytical early warning outputs on the regional trends or on focus issues. The team enhanced its daily media monitoring and newsletter, monthly and quarterly media analysis using the RMR risk framework. At the one-year-mark of its daily media monitoring, the team produced an annual West Africa Early Warning Media Analysis and corresponding visualisations. The team developed a regional strategy on the monitoring inflammatory rhetoric, hate speech and incitement to violence in West Africa with a geographic focus on Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Nigeria and Senegal. Central Africa The ERT delivered a number of HRBA trainings, for better integration of HRBA and LNOB principles in the CCAs and UNSDCFs, to the UNCTs in Congo, Burundi, and Gabon. Emphasis was placed on integrating the recommendations from international human rights mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review, into these programming frameworks. Further outreach was conducted with the Regional Economic Commissions of the African Union in terms of the inclusion of the economic analysis in the work of risk analysis and prevention. Southern Amercia (the team was deployed late 2021) The team has deployed to Paraguay on a mission to support the UNCT in identifying risk areas related to forced evictions and developing a prevention system also in consultation with civil society organizations. The ERT is working with human rights defenders in Paraguay, Brazil and Ecuador to build their capacities in terms of collection and verification processes to inform human rights observatories or early warning systems. Ad hoc missions were also carried out to facilitate regional wide information management efforts and human rights analysis of violations affecting migrants in the region. Central America (the team was deployed late 2021) During this first period, the ERT focused its efforts on Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua, being the last two the most worrying situations. In June 2022, the ERT started to gradually expand its coverage by gathering information from open sources regarding Cuba and projecting some activities in the Caribbean. Since its establishment, the ERT managed to support the Regional Office with more complex and pressing situations, namely the state of emergency in El Salvador, the general elections in Nicaragua and the increased migrants flow through the border between Colombia and Panama. The teams expertise in information management and human rights risk analysis was key to consolidate the work of the technical assistance team in El Salvador, the monitoring team dedicated to Nicaragua and the migration focal point, respectively.

Regional Emergency Response - COVID-19 and human rights The intervention seeks to strengthen OHCHR’s capacity to prevent and respond to serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including in the context of COVID-19; and at the same time, support the wider United Nations effort to become more effective in anticipating, preventing and responding to crisis and conflict. Two outcomes are presented for the intervention: i) decision-makers at the global, national and regional level take preventive measures and early action to address serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including negative socio-economic and other human rights impacts of COVID-19 response and recovery measures, with a focus on vulnerable populations: ii) Enhanced access to early warning analysis of the human rights situation by national partners in impacted regions To deliver on this commitment, OHCHR will improve how it identifies, manages, analyses and leverages human rights information to support strategic and operational decisions. This is accomplished by putting human rights officers and information management professionals in the field – the Emergency Response Teams – to support operations and engage with information channels in humanitarian and development as well as human rights contexts. Targeting resources to support field presences is expected to lead to more actionable data and information, with OHCHR better able to identify emerging risks and promising practices; and provide the situational awareness required to inform the timely, evidence-based, strategic and operational decisions made by the United Nations System and Member States.  Contingency Fund The intervention seeks to strengthen OHCHR’s capacity to respond to human rights deteriorating situations currently arising from pandemic and to ensure that a Human Rights-Based Approach is integrated in all UN responses at the global, regional and country levels. In the context of the ongoing OHCHR’s COVID-19 response, the Contingency Fund would be used to enable the deployment of a temporary surge capacity (local recruitment/deployment of a temporary Human Rights Officer) in an OHCHR field presence (in person and/or remotely, as travel restrictions allow) to assist UN Country Teams/Humanitarian Country Teams.  OHCHR would activate the use of the Contingency Fund at the initiative of High Commissioner in response to:- Unexpected deteriorating or potentially deteriorating human rights situations- A request by a Representative of the United Nations system in a country - A request by an OHCHR Head of Field Presence; in support to inter-agency efforts, including during a humanitarian crisis.