Andrea Marilyn Pragashini Immanuel: “Refugees bring with them their culture, traditions, history and a truckload of experience. They strive through unimaginable hardship, incomprehensible misery and through it all find the strength to smile. They have taught me perseverance, to never give up hope even when everything fails and to strive hard. They have taught me to appreciate life, peace and prosperity.

"I am Chihiro Saito – international UN Volunteer from Japan serving with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Serbia. I work as Associate Field Officer in a team that responds to the refugee and migrant situation in the country. As part of my assignment, I visit Reception and Transit Centers where most refugees and asylum seekers are housed. I am responsible for ensuring asylum seekers’ basic social service needs are met and human rights respected. I have attained so much knowledge and experience working with asylum seekers and refugees. 

UN entities will not be able to fulfill their promise of leaving no one behind and promoting inclusion until persons with disabilities are fully represented among UN staff. Unlocking potential United Nations Volunteers, as a cross-cutting organization in the UN system, is very well placed to partner with UN entities with the aim at unlocking the potential of persons with disabilities to work for the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2013, UNV, the Government of India, and UNDP launched a flagship initiative to provide help young people to reach their full social, economic and human potential, while instilling a strong sense of civic engagement facilitating greater youth participation in achieving sustainable development goals.

In order to improve conditions for young people in Lesotho, a ground-breaking partnership between the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), Lesotho National Youth Council, Office of the Director of Youth at the Ministry of Youth, and youth-focused VIOs in Lesotho, builds the employment skills of young people, provides them with greater access to information on health and

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a global programme and a common service to the UN system administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As we meet there are 4,200 UN Volunteers contributing to peace and development under various UN agency programmes around the world. This includes 350 volunteers in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt most of whom contribute to the regional response to the Syrian crisis. 

An international meeting of United Nations representatives is underway today and tomorrow, January 23-24, in Helsinki to discuss and agree on a comprehensive relief plan to provide aid in strife-torn Syria. UN Volunteers are an essential part of the response to this humanitarian crisis.  Highly qualified and largely from developing countries themselves, they provide relief and ensure the delivery of basic social services to refugees, as well as their host communities, and promote peace-building.

When I first landed to the international airport of Bujumbura to work as an international UN Volunteer for UNICEF, I realized the situation in the country was highly volatile. 

As a UN Volunteer Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), I am engaged in monitoring, investigating and reporting human rights violations and abuses, as well as building capacity of civil society partners and state authorities.  Aside from monitoring detention centres, prisons and police cells, I am engaged in the creation of local human rights networks, and I help them develop their capacity in monitoring and advocacy to build a society that respects human rights with dignity, mutual understanding and peaceful dialogue.

Every year, around 12,000 UN Online Volunteers team up with hundreds of organizations to address sustainable development challenges anywhere in the world. The UNV Online Volunteering service enables people around the globe to find opportunities posted by civil society organizations, public institutions and UN agencies. By supporting these organizations, volunteers develop their skills and become part of a global online community of peers, sharing the goal of advancing human development.