29 August 2001

Bonn, Germany: Tomorrow, exactly two years after the historic referendum for independence from Indonesia, over 400,000 men and women in East Timor will once again cast their votes.

This time, they will elect 88 representatives who will in turn form a Constituent Assembly. This Assembly will draft and adopt a constitution, thus opening the way for the full independence of East Timor.

As in the 1999 referendum, UN Volunteers are at the heart of the nation building process in East Timor: 284 United Nations Volunteers from 65 countries serving with the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor are directly working for the preparation of the elections.

Among them are 10 German nationals. They are involved in civic education, political party registration, public information and polling day support. With a few exceptions, UN Volunteers are the only international electoral staff at the subdistrict level.

UN Volunteers started preparing for tomorrow's elections as early as February when 130 volunteers were deployed all over the territory to begin the registration of the population -- the main prerequisite for the ballot. With civil registration finished in mid-June, they joined the 120 UNV district electoral officers who had arrived in May to focus their efforts on logistical preparations, the training of polling staff and voter education.

They have been travelling the mountainous territory to reach the population in the remotest areas in order to explain the procedures of the elections and the purpose and tasks of the Constituent Assembly--often walking for hours where cars couldn't reach.

Despite the difficult working conditions, the enthusiasm and dedication of the UN Volunteers is inspiring. Just a few days ago, one of my colleagues met German UNV Ingo Buettner coming out of the Egyptian military hospital, his broken arm in a fresh cast. He casually dismissed the colleague's worried question on whether he could continue to carry out his duties, saying: "I have been here for five months waiting for election day. This broken arm is nothing serious, in particular since I will not have to do any handwriting on that day. And since I will have to wear the cast for six weeks, it will be my souvenir from East Timor."

Tomorrow, each of the 248 polling centres throughout the territory will be supervised by one UNV district electoral officer, along with their national counterparts. The cooperation in teams which are predominantly staffed by East Timorese sets tomorrow's elections apart from the 1999 referendum when preparations for the ballot were carried out almost exclusively by international UN personnel, the vast majority of whom were UN Volunteers. It is a welcome sign of the successful transition to self-governance which the United Nations has been supporting since the vote for independence from Indonesia.

Since that time UN Volunteers have been involved in large numbers in the United Nations' efforts to support East Timor on its way to independence. Currently, some 900 UN Volunteers are part of the United Nations efforts in the territory. As a group, the UN Volunteers seek to combine electoral assistance with human development goals. Their duties cover the whole spectrum of tasks necessary to put a country on its feet, ranging from rebuilding schools and health centres, to agricultural development and the reconstruction of a functioning infrastructure. Together, UN Volunteers constitute around 50 per cent of the international staff of the UN mission in East Timor. Their combined task is nothing less than to support the birth of a new nation. This is a noble task, and we are proud that the largest ever operation in the 30-year history of UNV is to assist the people of East Timor in their heroic effort.

The support of UN Volunteers to peace-building efforts of the United Nations constitute a major part of UNV's activities throughout last year. In 2000, more than 2,000 UN Volunteers carried out assignments in the areas of humanitarian relief, reconstruction and peace operations. Un Volunteers served in six UN peace operations. Besides East Timor, the largest contingents were deployed to Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

We are also proud that the expertise and experience of UN Volunteers was emphasized last year by the Panel on United Nations Peace Missions, a group of independent international experts convened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In its report, popularly known as the Brahimi Report, the Panel urged the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) to increase its use of UN Volunteers based on their "dedicated and competent" performance in crisis zones around the world. A new memorandum of understanding on the use of UN Volunteers in peace operations is currently under preparation.

The year 2000 marked yet another record for the UNV programme: 4,780 UN Volunteers carried out 5,181 different assignments. The number of UN Volunteers serving in support of peace and development has never been larger. These UN Volunteers comprised of 157 nationalities served in 140 countries around the world. Moreover, 2000 marked the fourth straight record year since relocating our headquarters from Geneva to Bonn in 1996. From the perspective of the United Nations Volunteers I can only repeat what I have said before: Bonn B-O-N-N stands for: Bester Ort neuer Niederlassungen!

Thank you.