Funding Trends

Expenditure

In 2025, 48.4 per cent of total expenditures (US$454.4 million), including regular budget and voluntary contributions, were allocated to fieldwork and work carried out at headquar­ters to support the field, particularly in relation to capacity- strengthening projects and human rights monitoring. These activities were predomi­nantly financed through voluntary contributions.

Approximately 63 per cent of all extrabudget­ary funding was used to support work in the field, which receives minimal support from the regular budget. The remainder of the voluntary funding was distributed between other areas of OHCHR’s work and often supplemented the limited resources that were provided by the regular budget.

Regular budget and voluntary contributions

Over the last 10 years, an average of approximately 40 per cent and 60 per cent of the funding for UN Human Rights came from the United Nations regular budget and from voluntary contributions, respectively. In the past several years, the increased share of the United Nations regular budget for UN Human Rights activities came from additional resources that were allocated to cover the human rights treaty body strengthening process. These were based on entitlements of the resource formula of General Assembly resolution 68/268 and additional mandates, including the commissions of inquiry that were established by the HRC.

Funding partners/donor base

In the context of a sharp decrease in global Official Development Assistance (ODA) and an economic downturn, OHCHR maintained strong engagement with its partners and requested support from its existing and potential partners. In 2025, OHCHR had 113 funding partners, the highest number of funding partners it has had in its history. Moreover, the number of non- Member State partners totalled 44, including 10 new partners, representing the highest number to date.

Despite these achievements, nearly 50 per cent of total contributions were provided by five partners. Notably, with regard to regional groups, five Member States of the African Group provided funding in 2025, compared to an average of 2.75 since 2017.

In 2019, the Funding Compact was established by Member States and members of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), including UN Human Rights, to ensure that more predictable and flexible funding is available to UN development activities for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In line with the Funding Compact, the 2025 contri­butions received by UN Human Rights through the inter-agency pooled funds and trust funds amounted to US$9.8 million.

The Funding Compact calls for Member States to increase their multi-year commitments. UN Human Rights began 2025 with only US$74.9 million in predictable and sustainable income from pledged contributions, which were annual instal­ments of multi-year funding agreements. During the year, UN Human Rights concluded multi-year funding agreements with 15 donors, including 12 Member States (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the European Commission and two other donors (Belgique/Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and the Open Society Foundations). As of the beginning of January 2026, US$86.9 million had been registered by 23 donors as part of multi-year agreements

In-kind contributions

A number of Member States host UN Human Rights offices and provide in-kind support by covering certain costs, including the rent of premises, utilities and vehicles. These contributions are credited to their assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget.

Earmarked versus unearmarked contributions

In terms of funding flexibility, 58 per cent of un­earmarked contributions were provided by six partners.

Junior professional officers and united nations volunteers

Some Member States provided indirect financial support to UN Human Rights by contributing to the United Nations Junior Professional Officers (JPO) Programme, which is administered by DESA, in New York. As of 31 December, 33 JPOs were working at UN Human Rights and being supported by 18 Member States. The Netherlands also funded JPOs who were nationals of developing countries. 

UN Human Rights benefited from indirect financial support through the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme, which is administered by UNDP. As of 31 December, there were 34 UNVs working with UN Human Rights who were fully funded by nine governments. One of those individuals was a non-national.

UN Human Rights also benefited from support through the gratis personnel non-staff support modality. In 2025, seven experts were working at UN Human Rights, assisting with the implementation of technical cooperation activities and contributing expertise with regard to specialized functions that were not available within the Organization.