PRESS BRIEFING ON OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF VOLUNTEERS 2001

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF VOLUNTEERS 2001

The International Year of Volunteers 2001, to be opened tomorrow at Headquarters, would recognize the work of people who volunteer their efforts at all levels around the world, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of United Nations Volunteers, told correspondents this afternoon.

It would be "the international year of the volunteer, not the year of the international volunteer," she said. Even though the focal point of the celebration was United Nations Volunteers, "the year is primarily about the millions if not billions of people who volunteer domestically in their own countries, whether they're mentoring or coaching or visiting people in the hospital or giving blood -- the full range of activities that tie communities together in bonds of trust and reciprocity".

As she announced tomorrow's event, Ms. Capeling-Alajika was joined by Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Astrid Heiberg, President of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and Klas Bergman, Chief of External Relations at United Nations Volunteers.

Mr. Bergman said that Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be the keynote speaker at the opening meeting, along with Dr. Heiberg and a series of other speakers, including representatives of Japan and Uganda. Three United Nations volunteers who had been brought to Headquarters to share their experiences would also attend. The meeting would take place in Conference Room 4 at 10 a.m. At the day's luncheon, Mr. Brown would be the keynote speaker. United Nations Volunteers was able to recruit globally, said Mr. Bergman, because of UNDP's 134 offices around the world.

At today's briefing, participants stressed the importance of volunteers to the United Nations and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. United Nations Volunteers alone had volunteers from 140 countries serving in 145 countries, said Ms. Capeling-Alakija. There were currently almost 500 in East Timor and almost 700 in Kosovo, although many had left after the recent elections.

"United Nations Volunteers is one of the so-often forgotten jewels in the United Nations crown," said Mr. Brown. "They are so often the face of United Nations action everywhere, from East Timor to Kosovo, wherever the United Nations is active. United Nations Volunteers is one of the most successful things that the United Nations has done in the past 30 years."

Dr. Heiberg said that the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies had 20 million active volunteers currently in 76 countries, making it the biggest humanitarian network of volunteers in the world. Such volunteers worked in a way that crossed all of the kinds of barriers that separated people. Based locally, they were also the first people

Volunteers Press Briefing - 2 - 27 November 2000

on the spot when anything happened. The opening of the Year of Volunteers was a good occasion to bring attention to their important role; it was also a good way to emphasize that the way that organizations and governments work with volunteers needed to be modernized, in order to facilitate their activities. Tomorrow, she said, she would invite various governments to change laws to make it simpler to be a volunteer.

A correspondent asked how tomorrow's activities related to those of the official launch of the International Year of the Volunteer 2001, on 5 December 2000. Ms. Capeling-Alakija said that tomorrow the Secretary-General's speech would be recorded and sent out to up to 100 national committees around the world, to be replayed for the international launch festivities on 5 December. Mr. Bergman added that tomorrow was just the beginning of a year full of international activities. It would start at the United Nations since United Nations Volunteers was the focal point.

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