27 October 2000

BONN: The Executive Coordinator of the Bonn-based United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV), Sharon Capeling-Alakija, concluded a five-day visit to East Timor this week by recognizing the work of the more than 400 UN Volunteers working in the territory and signaling efforts of UN officials to guarantee their safety.

"The UN Volunteers are carrying out their assignments with utmost professionalism and are showing real concern for the East Timorese people," Ms. Capeling-Alakija said today. This week she visited UNVs and district administrators working in Manatutu, Baccau, Suai and Same. UN Volunteers comprise close to 80 per cent of international UN personnel at the district level.

During talks with senior officials of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the East Timorese Transitional Authority (ETTA), Jean-Christian Cady, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, expressed "deep appreciation and gratefulness for the role of UNVs". Officials attending the meeting said the UNVs would play an essential role in the upcoming elections and post-electoral period.

On security conditions for the UN Volunteers currently in the territory, Ms. Capeling-Alakija expressed her appreciation for the measures taken by UNTAET. During a security workshop with UN civilian police and UNV security focal points, the United Nations Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD) assessed regional security plans to be implemented throughout East Timor. Ms. Capeling-Alakija said she would continue to review the situation as that even in a period of relative calm it was essential to provide security training to UNVs.

The UNV Executive Coordinator said there were many "fine examples of cooperation" between UN components such as the UN Peacekeeping forces, civilian police, UN staff and UNVs. They are sharing the use of vehicles to get around a lack of transport and helping distribute materials from the provincial capital of Dili to the districts. She noted that one Thai battalion in Baccau is demonstrating fish farming at the community level, while other soldiers are teaching local residents how to use water buffaloes for plowing.

There are currently 406 UN Volunteers working in more than 40 departments of UNTAET in some 150 different professional functions. About 70 per cent of these are working in a range of activities, including agriculture, human rights, social affairs and public administration. The balance works in administrative and technical support to the UN mission. Thirty-one UNV specialists are currently assisting other UN agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) with humanitarian relief operations. The 437 UN Volunteers in total represent 85 nationalities. The average age is 38, and just over 30 per cent are women.

An additional 332 UNVs will be fielded over the next five months as civil registration and electoral officers.

UN Volunteers have been active in East Timor since June 1999. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) requested UNV to mobilize a large contingent of UN Volunteers to assist in last year's popular consultation process in East Timor under the newly established United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET). Five hundred UNVs (481 district electoral officers, or DEOs, and 19 doctors and nurses) were recruited from 73 countries and deployed in a record six-week period of time.

Among the 500 UN Volunteers who served with UNAMET, the DEOs constituted the largest group of civilian international staff of UNAMET, serving at the district level, where they conducted civic education and organized and supervised the registration and polling processes for the ballot on 30 August 1999. Largely through the work of the UNV DEOs, a record 451,000 Timorese people were registered to vote. A record 98 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots.

Following civil unrest, all UN staff members, including the UN Volunteers, were evacuated from East Timor. However, about 100 UNVs stayed on at a military base in Darwin, Australia, initially assisting UNAMET with nearly 2,000 East Timor refugees who had been relocated there. This same group returned to East Timor in mid-October 1999 where they again played a front line role.