According to paragraph 47 of the Procedures and rules of the Review Mechanism, the Secretariat of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC also serves as the Secretariat of the Review Mechanism and plays a supporting and facilitating role throughout the review process. The Secretariat of the UNTOC Review Mechanism is located within the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch of the Division for Treaty Affairs, at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
During the preparatory phase preceding the launch of the review process, the Secretariat, among others, assisted Member States in the process of formal and informal intergovernmental consultations related to the Review Mechanism and supported the development of REVMOD, the online secure platform for the country reviews.
Today, in the framework of the substantive review process (October 2020 – October 2030), the Secretariat provides assistance to States parties in the context of country reviews and services the general review, as well as ensuring the organizational operation of the mechanism. The Secretariat’s tasks mainly include: assisting States parties in the use of REVMOD, providing technical advice on filling in the self-assessment questionnaires, facilitating consultations among States parties, providing support in the preparation of the written outputs of the review process, servicing the intergovernmental meetings as related to the UNTOC Review Mechanism. The Secretariat also supports the participation of relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental organizations, academia and the private sector, in the review process, including through the development of relevant training material.
As per the Mechanism’s Procedures and rules, the requirements of the Mechanism and its Secretariat are to be funded in their entirety from the existing resources of the UN regular budget allocated to the UNTOC COP. Where necessary, additional costs are to be funded from extrabudgetary resources, including voluntary contributions, to be channelled through the Global Programme established by the Secretariat for such purposes.
The Secretariat’s capacity to discharge the above-noted functions is therefore subject to the continued availability of voluntary contributions by States parties.
