Sweden contributes €4.2 million to the TFV
The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) and the Swedish international development agency (Sida) have signed a three-year agreement with a total value of 36 million Swedish kronor (ca. €4.2 million) of unrestricted funding to the TFV. The agreement, resulting from intensive consultations between Sida and the TFV Secretariat, constitutes the single largest contribution of a State Party to the Trust Fund for Victims to date.
Sweden and Finland co-hosted a reception for the TFV on Friday 22 November. At the reception Ambassador Håkan Emsgård reiterated Sweden’s support to the valuable activities of the TFV, as a key institution of the Rome Statute, in support of victims of international crimes. He stated that Sweden’s decision to significantly increase its contribution to the TFV conveyed an appreciation of the results achieved by the TFV so far, as well as Sweden’s commitment to provide a solid and long-term basis to continue and expand the work of TFV.
Mr Motoo Noguchi, Chair of the TFV Board of Directors, stated that “we are greatly honoured by the renewed engagement by Sweden, which not only provides the TFV with an extremely encouraging boost to the development of our resources, but also indicates trust and confidence in the Trust Fund’s mandates to provide reparative justice to victims.” Mr Noguchi further expressed hope that other States Parties will find inspiration to engage with TFV to best of their ability.
Finland, which also has been a long-standing and consistent supporter of the Trust Fund for Victims, is currently committed to a multi-annual funding (2012 – 2015) to the TFV amounting to a total of 800.000 euros. The funding is directed to Trust Fund’s programme Addressing Sexual & Other Forms of Gender-Based Violence - Rehabilitating and Supporting Victim Survivors in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In addition to this Finland has supported financially the reparations mandate of the Trust Fund.
At the reception on Friday 22 November, Finland´s Ambassador Liisa Talonpoika stated that Finland highly values the engagement and efforts of the TFV in the fight against impunity in particular by addressing the needs of the victims of the crimes under the Rome Statue and reiterated Finland's continuing support to the Trust Fund.