28 May 2000

Bonn, Germany: In 2000, more than 2000 UN Volunteers carried out assignments in the areas of humanitarian relief, reconstruction and peace operations.

"United Nations Volunteers have historically proven to be dedicated and competent in their fields of work. The legislative bodies have encouraged greater use of United Nations Volunteers in peacekeeping operations based on their exemplary past performance."
Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (Brahimi Report)

The 70 UN Volunteers serving with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) - providing supplies, functioning vehicles and satellite communications - do not lay down their tools at the end of the day. In evenings and on weekends, they get together as the UNV Action Team and extend their volunteer services to districts of the capital Freetown, such as in Kissy. Members of the UNV Action Team - a plumber, an electrician, a site engineer and several mechanics - have helped construct a laboratory for the Kissy Hospital. In the process they provided on-site training for local handymen. The Team has also organized clean-up drives and regularly meets on weekends to play volleyball with residents or build kites for local children.

To the UN Volunteers from 30 countries, these off-hours voluntary services complement their functions within the peacekeeping mission as water and sewage specialists, field engineers, camp managers, construction supervisors or as human rights educators assisting displaced war victims. Their combined volunteer efforts help the West African country along its road to recovery following a decade of brutal civil war.

During 2000, UN Volunteers assisted in other ways to promote peace around the world:

• A team of UNVs in Bosnia and Herzegovina helped erode prejudice amongst young Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, bringing them together through sports and dance. At multi-cultural youth camps organized by the UN Volunteers, young people reached across ethnic barriers and embraced new friends. The UNV team also trained local facilitators in conflict resolution and confidence-building. Through a reconciliation fund, some 1,600 people benefited from seed money for small-scale projects encouraging reconciliation between divided groups. The message of peace reached some 25,000 people through pilot youth radio shows, while others tapped into resources on a new web site for youth.
• In strife-torn, Burundi, 11 UNVs provided human rights training to leaders of non-governmental organizations, who in turn passed on knowledge to other staff members on ways to advance peaceful co-existence in ethnically-divided communities. Through the UN Volunteers' efforts, children took up role-play in which they created and tackled potentially conflictual situations in a peaceful way. UN Volunteers also organized youth peace festivals to demonstrate publicly how Hutus and Tutsis can live and learn together.