UN General Assembly
1981

244. I think it is an alarming fact that torture has become a part of daily life in an increasing number of countries. Who should make an outcry against this if not the United Nations? 245. That is the starting point of the Nordic initiative in the Commission on Human Rights aimed at establishing a United Nations voluntary fund for victims of torture. In practice, such a fund would work on the basis of voluntary contributions for distribution through established channels of humanitarian assistance as humanitarian, legal and financial aid to victims of torture and to relatives of such victims. 246. The Nordic proposal has been endorsed by the Commission on Human Rights and subsequently by the Economic and Social Council, and we hope that this idea will be finally approved at the present session of the General Assembly, with the broadest possible support.17 Such a decision would also be a symbol of the general commitment of the United Nations to the cause of human rights.