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Information on UN VOLUNTEER OPERATION IN EAST TIMOR and NGO OBSERVERS Compiled by Charles Scheiner, IFET UN Representative From the first ten days of June until mid-August, the United Nations will deploy approximately 600 personnel to East Timor to conduct the August 8 balloting and provide logistical support, as part of UNAMET (United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor). This is in addition to police advisors. There will also be several NGO observer/monitor delegations in East Timor, including one coordinated by IFET. (See NGO below) UN Volunteers People not already on the UNV roster may apply for UNAMET volunteer positions in UNAMET if they have relevant language, educational and/or experiential skills. The UN is rapidly finding their personnel; if you know of anyone who is interested, please let them know as quickly as possible. UNV people are recruited and assigned through agencies in each participating country. Included below is contact information for some countries; you can find a list of UNV Co-operating Organisations at http://www.unv.org/unvols/app8.htm. The main UNV office is in Bonn, Germany. In the United States, the Peace Corps is the cooperating agency. I spoke with Bill Clifford in their Washington office, who is working on UNAMET volunteer. He already has seven of the 5-10 U.S. citizens who will be part of this operation. Any U.S. citizen who is interested in volunteering for UNAMET should fax him a letter and resume IMMEDIATELY to 202-692-2251. (Dorothy Sales, the other UNV/Peace Corps person, is out of the country at the moment.) The phone number at the Peace Corps is 1-800-424-8580, but a faxed letter is likely to work better. See below for other countries. NGO Observers I have had two conversations this week with the U.N. Department of Political Affairs and the Electoral Assistance Division about the NGO observer project, and will have more. The following are the key points - all of which will be pursued further:
The specifics below about the UN Volunteer program are extracted from their web site. Items in [square brackets] are my comments. Minimum Requirements to apply as International UNV Specialist If you wish to apply to become an international UNV Specialist, you should fulfil the following minimum requirements:
Besides the above mentioned minimum requirements, as a UN Volunteer you will be expected to bring a work methodology which promotes participation, exchange of ideas and partnership. In order to quickly respond to the requests for Volunteers, UNV maintains a database of available candidates who have experience in various sectors. A UN Volunteer is an unsalaried professional who, in return for his or her services, receives subsistence entitlements, including for example:
The United Nations Volunteers programme reserves the right to amend the conditions of each engagement without prejudice to the rights acquired under it. The United Nations Volunteers programme reserves also the right to withdraw a UNV specialist from an assignment after consultation with the authorities concerned. How and where to apply as an International UNV Specialist Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Congo, Dem.Rep., Cuba, Czech Rep., Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Korea Rep., Malta, Morocco, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Slovak Rep., Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, USA, Vietnam [A few of the most useful ones to readers of this list are:] Peace Corps, UNV International Operations 1111 20th Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20526 USA fax 202-692-2251. phone 1-800-424-8580 http://www.peacecorps.gov/ Australian Volunteers International P.O. Box 350 71-75 Argyle Street Fitzroy, 3065 Victoria AUSTRALIA http://www.osb.org.au World University Service of Canada (WUSC) P.O. Box 3000 Postal Station C Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4M8 CANADA http://www.wusc.ca/ Agency for Personal Service Overseas (APSO) 30 Fitzwilliam Square Dublin 2, IRELAND http://www.apso.ie SNV Netherlands Development Organisation Att. UNV Bezuidenhoutseweg 161 NL-2594 AG Den Haag, THE NETHERLANDS Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) P.O. Box 12-246 Wellington NEW ZEALAND Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) Volunteer Service Division Tollbugt. 31 P.O. Box 8030 Dep. 0030 Oslo 1 NORWAY http://www.norad.no As a Filipino national, you need to contact directly our Cooperating Organisation in The Philippines: PNVSCA NEDA Complex 4 EDSA (Epifanio De Los Santos Avenue), Diliman Quezon City, Metro Manila PHILIPPINES Filipino nationals residing outside the Philippines on a temporary basis and with a permanent address in the Philippines must also apply through PNVSCA. Filipino Government employees on secondment outside the Philippines need to apply to PNVSCA in all cases. Filipino nationals residing permanently abroad and not planning to return to the Philippines may apply directly to UNV/Cyprus: United Nations Volunteers Cyprus Offshore Centre P.O. Box 25711 1311 Nicosia CYPRUS Institut de Coopération Portugaise (ICP) Ministère des Affaires Etrangères Avenida Duque d'Avila No. 64, 5è étage 1000 Lisbonne PORTUGAL Department of Technical and Economic Cooperation (DTEC) c/o UNDP Office G.P.O. Box 618 Bangkok 2 THAILAND If your country is not listed in our list above, Send your Curriculum Vitae/Resume mentioning your:
To the following address: United Nations Volunteers Offshore Processing Centre PO BOX 25711 Nicosia, CYPRUS Fax: +357 2 775693 E-mail: volunteer-cv@unv.org You may wish to send your Curriculum Vitae/Resume by post or e- mail. If you use e-mail, please make sure that you send plain ASCII text. Remarks:
Posted 6/99: UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) http://www.un.org/peace/etimor/etimor.htm Compiled by Charles Scheiner |
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