01 August 2002

Bonn, Germany: East Timor has been the largest operation ever in the 31-year history of the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV). UN Volunteers were among the first international UN personnel to return to East Timor in October 1999, after weeks of violent fighting between opponents and supporters of independence.

In a UN-organized ballot held on 30 August 1999, a vast majority of East Timorese had voted for sovereignty. Since then, some 3,000 UN Volunteers from more than 100 countries have supported authorities in East Timor, also in conducting other electoral processes. They carried out a range of activities in all parts of the country with the UN agencies and as part of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

UN Volunteers work in various sectors of relief and development, including forestry and fisheries, border control, district finances, gender affairs, human rights, refugee and returnee issues, forensics, civil engineering, water and sanitation, judicial and political affairs, research and census, health, trade, public information and taxation - and continue to do, in a post-independence context.

No other UN operation has made such extensive use of UN Volunteers and their expertise. UN Volunteers have also been essential in preparing for the East Timor's Independence Day ceremonies and celebrations. On 19 May, some 200,000 East Timorese from all parts of the country gathered at Taci Tolo site in the outskirts of Dili to witness independence celebrations, led by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and President Xanana Gusmao.

Baking bread 1.jpgMany of them had spent the previous night and day at the site to participate in the historic event marking the end of the United Nations Transitional Administration to East Timor (UNTAET) and the official birth of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. UN Volunteer Tarik Jasarevic was part of a team of six UN military and civilian staff who lowered the UN flag and raised the black, white and yellow East Timorese flag at midnight.

East Timor's Senior Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Jose Ramos Horta thanked UN Volunteers for their contribution - in both his speech shortly before the flag changing ceremony and at the official opening ceremony of the International People's Park hosted by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was among the hundreds of invited guests who attended the opening ceremony. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Prize laureate of 1996, had been the source of inspiration for the creation of the park.

Ramos-Horta presented a "Distinguished Service Award" to the UNV Executive Coordinator, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, and three members of the UNV team. The team consisted of Kevin Gilroy, the Head of the UNV programme in East Timor, and two UN Volunteers, Thandi Mwape from Zambia, and Chana Opaskornkul from Thailand, who received the award on behalf of all UN Volunteers serving in East Timor.

The park was created by UN Volunteers as part of the preparations for independence celebrations. A stone monument in the centre of the park honours the contribution, commitment and achievements of the thousands of international peacekeepers, UN Police, UN civilian staff, UN Volunteers, humanitarian workers and the international community at large who assisted the people of East Timor on their journey to independence.

On the day following the independence-celebrations, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of UNV, officially handed the "Nobel de la Paz" football field - which is part of the International People's Park (IPP) and has been rehabilitated by UN Volunteers - over to the East Timorese Don Carlos Foundation.

The Don Carlos Foundation takes care of disadvantaged young people, providing them with opportunities to actively participate in sports and cultural events and with education grants. It is named after Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Jose Ramos-Horta. Some 1,000 young people together with the 16 youth soccer teams of Dili watched the opening game accompanied by much cheerleading. The team of "Junta Freigueisa Pontinha" defeated "Jovalaen" by a score of 3:0.