This database is a comprehensive tracking tool monitoring external financial and in-kind support provided to UN Special Procedures mandate holders from 2016 to 2025. By centralizing data traditionally scattered across annual UN reports, it serves as a vital resource for analyzing donor influence, mandate independence, and the resource allocation of international human rights mechanisms.
Filter & Explore: Use the tabs and dropdowns above to browse funding by rapporteur, mandate, or specific donor categories.
Expand Records: Click on any row to reveal its full transaction history, including originating donors, managing conduits, and direct links to primary sources.
Understand the Estimates: Hover over or tap the ⓘ icons to view precise calculation breakdowns for estimated in-kind and assistant costs.
Spot Discrepancies: The database supplements official UN reports with independent data, such as undisclosed grants from US 990 tax records. Hover over or tap the ⚠️ tags for context on unreported, partially reported, or independently discovered funding.
This database was constructed through a systematic extraction and normalization of data from the annual “Facts and Figures” reports of the UN Special Procedures (2016–2025). To supplement this voluntary self-reporting, public grant databases and US IRS Form 990 tax records from major foundation donors were cross-referenced to verify disclosures and uncover unreported funding.
The following methodological rules were applied to ensure consistency, transparency, and the formulation of rigorous, conservative estimates of support.
To provide a clear and accurate view of donor influence, overlapping entities and subsidiaries were consolidated:
Parent Entity Rule: Specific diplomatic missions and embassies were rolled up into their sovereign state (e.g., US Embassy in Tanzania → United States).
Foundation Normalization: Regional branches of foundations were unified under the parent organization (e.g., OSIWA/OSISA → Open Society Foundations).
UN Agency Cleanup: Specific country offices were standardized to the main agency name (e.g., UNDP Tanzania → UNDP).
Intermediaries & Conduits: When grants flowed through intermediaries (e.g., a foundation grant administered by an NGO), the intermediary is listed under the Managing Conduit column, while the original funder is retained as the Originating Donor to accurately reflect the true source of influence.
Currency Conversion: All non-USD financial data (e.g., EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, CAD, NOK) was converted to USD based on the approximate average market exchange rate for the specific reporting year.
Joint Support Splits: In cases where two or more donors jointly funded a single position or project without a specified breakdown, the total amount was split 50/50, 33/33/33, or 25/25/25/25 to create separate entries. Specific exceptions (e.g., one donor paying for travel, another for the venue) are detailed in the Estimates Breakdown.
Multi-Year Grant Smoothing: Because Special Rapporteurs (SRs) have no standardized reporting practice, some report multi-year grants as a single lump sum, while others report it annually. Where possible, IRS 990 forms and public grant records were utilized to verify whether a reported figure (e.g., $300,000) was a single-year disbursement or a $100,000/year grant over three years.
Earmarked Funding (Received Via U.N.): Donors appearing in the “Earmarked funding… received through OHCHR” section of the UN reports are flagged as “Yes” in the database. These represent funds passed through the OHCHR but earmarked for a specific rapporteur. They are not voluntary disclosures by the SR, since the OHCHR publishes them independently.
Because in-kind contributions are rarely reported as direct cash transactions, estimates are modeled using standardized financial benchmarks, institutional cost structures, and United Nations travel compliance protocols. The specific calculation for any estimated row can be viewed by hovering over the ⓘ icon in the database.
A. Undisclosed Cash Standardization When a mandate holder reports receiving a monetary grant but completely fails to disclose the amount, the database assigns a standardized placeholder value of $86,000 USD, which represents the historical average of all declared cash donations in the dataset.
B. Personnel & Assistants
Total Assistant Tallies: Figures represent an estimate of annual service instances, not a headcount of individuals. Therefore, one assistant serving an SR for 3 years is counted as 3 annual instances. “Part-time” assistants are counted as 0.5. If an SR reports an “assistant” (singular), a value of 1 is assumed. If they report “assistants” (plural) without specifying a number, a conservative minimum of 2 is assumed.
Administrative Assistants: Estimated using the host university or institution’s mid-level administrative/professional salary scales for the specific year. A mandatory institutional fringe benefit/on-cost rate (typically 30%–43%, covering pension, healthcare, and payroll taxes) is applied to determine the true employer cost, then converted to USD.
Research Assistants: Modeled on Junior/Non-student Research Assistant salary grades (unless otherwise specified) at the host institution for the respective year. Applicable fringe benefit rates (e.g., 25%–36%) are added to calculate the total institutional cost, multiplied by the quantity of assistants, and converted to USD.
C. Physical Infrastructure & Office Space
Estimated by taking standard workstation dimensions (e.g., 11 sq. m / 120 sq. ft.) and applying the average commercial Class A/B academic-adjacent rental rate for that specific city and year. A 10%–20% institutional overhead buffer is added to account for utilities, security, IT networks, and maintenance, then converted to USD.
D. Travel, Transit, and Subsistence (DSA)
Transit: Benchmarked against fully flexible, premium regional or intercontinental business-class fares, aligning with UN travel directives for mandate holders (prioritizing flexibility and security). Unless otherwise specified, travel is always assumed from the SR’s operational base. If locations or dates are not provided by the SR’s disclosures, alternative sources are used to cross-reference the SR’s itinerary, such as public appearances and scheduled events. If no additional information can be found to corroborate further details about an SR’s travel agenda, global averages are assumed and detailed in the estimates breakdowns.
Subsistence (DSA): Calculated using destination rates published by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) for the corresponding timeline.
E. Academic Accommodations & Pro Bono Legal
Teaching Alleviation: Valued by combining the market cost to recruit adjunct faculty to cover the SR’s exempted courses, alongside the pro-rated value of the SR’s contracted faculty salary redirected to UN mandate functions.
Legal/Advisory Services: Modeled on conservative pro bono market-equivalent billable hours: ~$150/hour for Associate-level legal research, and ~$350/hour for Senior Counsel/Partner strategic review and sign-offs.
F. Institutional Administrative Overhead
To capture internal operational expenses absorbed by host institutions (visa coordination, financial compliance, event logistics), a standardized programmatic overhead fee ranging from $150 to $2,500 is integrated based on the complexity of the action.
To maintain absolute data integrity, warning tags (⚠️) are applied to transactions where the self-reported UN data required significant correction, lacked transparency, or contradicted external public records.
⚠️ PARTIALLY REPORTED: The SR disclosed the funding in UN reports, but critical information was missing (e.g., omitted the donor’s name, or reported the donor but hid the monetary amount).
⚠️ NOT REPORTED: The financial support was completely omitted by the SR in their mandatory UN disclosures, and was discovered independently via public tax records or grant databases.
⚠️ UNKNOWN DONOR: The mandate holder reported receiving funds or support but explicitly hid or failed to provide the identity of the donor.
⚠️ UNDISCLOSED AMOUNT: The SR reported receiving a cash grant but hid the monetary value. The standardized $86,000 average is assumed and applied to the totals.
⚠️ UNDISCLOSED IN-KIND: The SR reported receiving “in-kind” support but failed to specify what the support actually was (e.g., travel, office space). Because it cannot be modeled, no financial value is assumed or added to the totals.
TERM ENDED: The UN mandate transferred hands between different Special Rapporteurs during this reporting year.
Year: The fiscal or reporting year the support was provided.
Mandate: The official UN title of the Special Procedure or Working Group.
Mandate-Holder: The name of the UN expert occupying the mandate during that year.
Donor: The primary entity, state, or institution providing the financial or in-kind support.
Amount (USD): The consolidated estimated value of the transaction, which aggregates Disclosed Cash, Assistant Costs, In-Kind Costs, and Undisclosed Cash into a single metric.
Disclosed Monetary Amount (USD): Total cash publicly disclosed in annual UN reports as received by the Special Rapporteur.
Fiscal Agent Amount (USD): Money that passed through a donor acting solely as a fiscal sponsor. (Included in Donor totals to show financial flow, but excluded from SR totals to prevent double-counting).
In-Kind: Indicates whether non-monetary logistical or operational support was provided.
In-Kind Cost Estimate (USD): The calculated USD estimate of the in-kind support (excluding assistants).
Assistants: The calculated annual instances of personnel provided to the SR.
Assistants Cost Estimate (USD): The calculated USD estimate of the institutional cost to employ and provision the listed assistants.
Undisclosed Monetary Amount Estimate: The estimated value of cash that was hidden by the SR or discovered independently of UN disclosures.
Received Via U.N.: Indicates “Yes” if the funds were earmarked for the mandate but routed officially through the OHCHR.
Purpose: The verbatim stated programmatic intent or function of the funding/support. Quotes are derived from the UN Facts and Figures reports or public 990 forms.
Managing Conduit: The intermediary organization or NGO that administered the grant on behalf of the originating donor.
Originating Donor: The ultimate original source of the funding, when passed through a conduit.
Estimates Breakdown: A detailed, math-level justification of how the specific in-kind or assistant value was calculated for that exact row.
This database relies heavily on the voluntary self-reporting of mandate holders in their annual UN disclosures. Consequently, the information is strictly bound by the transparency, accuracy, and reporting consistency of individual experts. It should be treated as a baseline representation of external influence rather than an exhaustive audit of all support received by the Special Procedures system.
Are you a mandate holder and would like to rectify an estimated value? Submit your receipts through the contact form below.
Are you a concerned citizen and would like to demand more transparency? Sign the petition to demand the receipts!