PRESS BRIEFING BY UN VOLUNTEERS ON EAST TIMOR
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY UN VOLUNTEERS ON EAST TIMOR
19990622
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) was expected to provide the largest component of electoral observers in East Timor, Executive Coordinator of the UNV, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today. The programme had been invited to recruit and supply some 400 district electoral observers, who were currently being deployed, as part of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) component of electoral observers on the island. In addition, 10 medical doctors and 10 laboratory technicians would be ensuring basic medical coverage during the operations there.
Ms. Capeling-Alakija said that, at the moment, there was a core team of five UNVs and one headquarters staff from Bonn in East Timor to coordinate preparatory work to receive the entire group as soon as they arrive at the mission area. The 400 monitors were scheduled to receive a five-day intensive detailed briefing being conducted by the Australian Volunteer International Organization at the Royal Australian Air Force Base in Darwin, before going to East Timor. To date, 154 were currently in Darwin. Seventy were scheduled to arrive in East Timor tomorrow, and 84 more would be arriving on Monday, 28 June. Another group of 134 would be arriving in Darwin over the next three to four days and were expected to be in East Timor by 2 July. The remainder were expected there by 8 July, she added.
Some 60 per cent of those monitors had had previous experience with the UNV, she continued. Some of them had already worked this year in the Central African Republic, Nigeria and South Africa. The others had had the experience of working with either their national electoral commissions or with other large organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Commission. The 400 monitors came from 67 countries representing all continents and the number of women amounted to just over 30 per cent.
Asked about the safety of the volunteers, she said that in all situations, the security of UNVs had always been of utmost priority. All possible precautions were being taken, and the volunteers would be within the security framework of the United Nations in East Timor. About 270 civilian police were expected to be deployed there, some of whom had already arrived, in addition to United Nations security forces, who would be deployed to each of the regional centres where the volunteers would be based. However, since a protective shield could not be put around each volunteer, the Darwin briefing would inform them on details on how to better ensure their own security. It was a concern, she stressed, particularly in view of the current reports coming out of the island.
East Timor Press Briefing by UNV - 2 - 22 June 1999
Responding to another question on whether the UNVs would be expected to monitor and report to the United Nations the activities of the pro- integrationist militias in East Timor, Ms. Capeling-Alakija explained that part of the monitoring exercise for all of the polling officers would be to report any instances of intimidation of voters and interference with the fair conduct of the electoral process.
In addition to its work in East Timor, she informed correspondents that UNV had placed, since 1971, over 19,000 volunteers in over 30 United Nations organizations. They had been involved in areas relating to humanitarian relief, cultural heritage and community development, among others. In 1998, the General Assembly designated the programme as the focal point for the International Year of Volunteers to be observed in 2001.
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