DILI, East Timor, 25 June 2001 -- UN Volunteers attached to the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Civil Registry Unit on 23 June completed a drive to register the territory's civilian population.

Preliminary reports indicate that 778,989 East Timorese have been registered and issued temporary identity cards. Much of the work has been carried out by 130 UN Volunteers working in the territory's 13 districts. Civil registration is an important step in the process of organizing the East Timor's first free Constituent Assembly elections, which are scheduled for 30 August.

"I came to register because I think it important to re-establish our identity," said Amelia Ferera Vregas from Dili on receiving her first official East Timorese identification document.

"Now that it comes to the end I feel very grateful that we accomplished what actually we set out to do four months ago," said Brenda Adong, a 30-year-old Ugandan.

Ms. Adong, one of the Civil Registration Officers recruited and fielded by the Bonn-based United Nations Volunteers (UNV), will now join her colleagues to concentrate on preparations for the elections. There are currently 906 UN Volunteers serving in East Timor; 820 of these are attached to UNTAET, while the others work with UN agencies in reconstruction and development activities.

"At the very end I'm happy about what we achieved together with all UN Volunteers who have been the backbone of the whole operation," said Peter Rimmele, head of UNTAET's Civil Registry Unit. "Around 96 per cent of the estimated population has been registered, which is a great result considering all the difficulties we had at the beginning like shortages in material supplies and computer problems."

Based on the civil registration, officials will compile a government register of all East Timor residents. Many government programmes and decisions will depend on having the correct information about the country's population.

"The registration is a continuous process. We will now build up this database that will be permanently updated with births, deaths and marriages and we plan to start with the issuance of various civil documents," Mr. Rimmele said. "One Civil Registration Officer will remain in each district to train the Timorese so they can take over the administration"

Countdown to the elections

Among their most important tasks, UN Volunteers helped collect the information necessary to compile voter rolls for the ballot.

"We have not had official data handed over to us yet. However we have been closely working with the Civil Registration Unit and have been unofficially given the part of information so we have been running tests and quality control," said Carlos Valenzuela, the Chief Electoral Officer and member of Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

Currently 148 UN Volunteers work within IEC to identify polling centres and to carry out logistical and operational aspects of the upcoming elections. The many task of these UNV District Electoral Officers (DEOs) is voter education. One of UNTAET's main concerns in the run-up to the ballot is insufficient understanding among the residents on the nature of the elections.

"Since the arrival of (DEOs), there has been a constant daily effort to go to the villages and to spread basic voter information messages," Mr. Valenzuela explained. "Considering voter education as our priority, I'm confident that, by the time of the elections, combined effort of the Civic Education Officers and DEOs will give positive results."

On polling day, Timorese men and women will elect 88 representatives who will, in turn, form a Constituent Assembly that will draft and adopt a Constitution. It will also act as the legislature, as the governing National Council will be dissolved on 15 July.

Five days before the application deadline, 12 East Timorese political parties have successfully registered with the IEC while three other parties and five independent candidates still await word on their applications. The political campaigning period begins on 15 July and is to end two days ahead of the election.

Ms. Adong is aware of the task ahead. "I'm hopeful that with the elections everything will go well just as it went with the civil registration," she said. "The election is another important duty we are assigned and we will try to accomplish it with dedication and strong will."

UNV is the volunteer arm of the UN system. It extends hands-on assistance for peace and development in nearly 150 countries. Created by the UN General Assembly in 1970 and administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNV works through UNDP country offices to send volunteers--two-thirds of them from developing countries--and promote the ideals of volunteerism around the world. UN Volunteers have extensive experience in 115 professional fields.

For more information about this news release, contact:
Tarik Jasarevic; Tel: (390) 831 445 111; Mobile: (61) 409 598 710; Email: jasarevic@un.org, or
Richard Nyberg, Tel: (49 228) 815 2223; Email: richard.nyberg@unv.org

For application information, please visit the Volunteers section of this web site.