National Consultant to conduct analysis of Ukrainian legislative framework in line with CEDAW

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Ukraine has a policy and legislative framework on gender equality, and gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution. The government implements the National Programme on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men (2017-2020), in addition to the Law on Equal Opportunities, the Law on Domestic Violence and the National Strategy and Action Plan on Human Rights (2015-2020). In response to the conflict, the Government adopted a National Action Plan for Implementation of the UNSCR 1325 (2016-2020). The country has also adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action (BPfA) and ratified the main international instruments.

Ukraine also ratified the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1981) and its Optional Protocol (2003). Nevertheless, the CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations (2010 and 2017), the 20-year Review of the Beijing Platform for Action in 2010 (Beijing+15), and the report on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) all stress that Ukraine needs to improve its implementation of CEDAW in order to make gender equality a reality. Among the key challenges are low awareness on the part of the duty bearers and rights holders about the Convention, weak capacity of state officials and judiciary actors to apply the Convention in practice, weak oversight and coordination of implementation of the Convention and insufficient investments in empowerment of women facing discrimination, including multiple discrimination.

The CEDAW Committee expressed concern in its Concluding Observations of the Eighth Periodic Report of Ukraine (March 2017) that “the definition of discrimination contained in article 1 of the Act on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Men and Women implicitly differs from the terms provided for in article 1 of the Law on the Principles of Prevention and Combating Discrimination, which results in a contradictory interpretation of the term discrimination at the practical level”. It recommended that the Government: “harmonize its anti-discrimination legislation in order to prohibit discrimination on all grounds and to include direct and indirect discrimination in both the public and private spheres, as well as intersecting forms of discrimination, against women”.

The Committee also recommended that the Government: establish strong accountability mechanisms and allocate adequate human, technical and financial resources for the implementation of laws in accordance with the rights of women under the Constitution and the Convention; ensure that the Convention, the Optional Protocol and the Committee’s general recommendations are sufficiently known and applied by all branches of the Government, including the judiciary, as a framework for laws, court decisions and policies on gender equality and the advancement of women; and adopt a clear strategy to consolidate and reinforce the national and local capacity of the national machinery for the advancement of women to effectively implement the Convention; strengthen understanding of the substantive equality of women and men and to enhance positive and non-stereotypical portrayals of women in all areas; among many other recommendations.

In order to support the Government with CEDAW implementation, UN Women launched the project “CEDAW in Action!” in June 2017, which is funded by the Government of Canada. The project aims to promote stronger national accountability processes and mechanisms to facilitate CEDAW implementation. One objective of the project will be to support the national machinery on gender equality to develop a strategy for effective CEDAW implementation, monitoring and reporting. This will be achieved, in part, through the provision of technical and capacity-building support to the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration (national gender machinery) and the Parliament for the review and revision of the Ukrainian legislative framework, particularly anti-discrimination legislation to ensure their alignment with the CEDAW Convention. Recommendations will also be provided to harmonize and align these national laws and policies with other international and regional commitments, such the UNSCRs on Women, Peace and Security, the SDGs, the BPfA, and national strategies and plans such as the State Programme on Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men, NAP on 1325 and the National Strategy and Action Plan on Human Rights.

UN Women therefore seeks to hire a national consultant (legal analyst) to conduct a gender analysis to ensure Ukrainian legislation is in accordance with the rights of women under the Constitution, the CEDAW Convention and the Concluding Observations (50 working days).

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UN Women Country Programme Manager, technical guidance by the CEDAW Project Analyst, and day-to-day supervision of the Vice-Prime Minister, the consultant will implement a set of tasks, including, but not limited to:

Gender analysis of legislation:

• Conduct a gender analysis of legislation, with a specific focus on anti-discrimination legislation and legislative and policy areas of concern identified in the recent CEDAW Concluding Observations (2017), including but not limited to the Law on Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities of Men and Women and the Law on the Principles of Preventing and Combating Discrimination in Ukraine; the exact laws for review will be identified together with the Vice Prime Minister on EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration, gender focal points of the line ministries, the Ombudsperson and Parliamentary Caucus on Equal Opportunities and other commissions; gender neutral laws included in the national reforms that fail to protect or promote the rights of women may be of special interest
• Conduct a desk review of best international legislative practices in the area of equal rights and nondiscrimination in the context of implementation of CEDAW;
• Conduct bilateral and multilateral meetings and interviews with the institutions of the national mechanism on gender equality (Ministry of Social Policy and the new Commissioner on Gender Equality), Ombudsperson and Parliamentary Caucus on Equal Opportunities and Commissions, as well as with sectoral/legal experts and gender focal points and development agencies and civil society organizations, in order to collect information on needed reforms in the legal framework;
• Provide a series of recommendations for legislative and policy reform and harmonization, including explicit provisions for gender equality and/or to remove previously existing discriminatory provisions; recommendations should be compiled in a comparative table format in accordance with the National Parliament’s standards for the introduction of changes and amendments to the legislation;
• Verify and validate draft outlines of the analysis and the comparative table with national mechanism on gender equality and relevant sectoral experts from state institutions, civil society and development partners;
• Present the analysis outlines and recommended amendments/revision of legislation at a meeting with national stakeholders from the national mechanism on gender equality, Parliament, government, CSOs and development partners. Compile comments and recommendations received and revise the analysis and the comparative table for submission to the Vice-Prime Minister on EU and Euro-Atlantic Integration and eventual submission to the Parliament;

• All reports should be submitted in Ukrainian language. The supporting documents, including the legal analysis can be submitted in Ukrainian.

• The Consultant is expected to work remotely using her/his own computer, but may access the UN Women office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

Performance evaluation:

• Contractor’s performance will be evaluated against such criteria as: timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. The evaluation will be carried out and cleared by the hiring manager which will also be the basis for payment on a delivery by delivery basis to the consultant.

Financial arrangements:  

• Payment will be disbursed by instalments according to the above schedule of deliverables upon receipt of the progress reports and their certification by the UN Women Country Programme Manager/Head of Office that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Assignment /Deliverables

Competencies

Core Values

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Required Skills and Experience