Senior Legal Officer

Before submitting an application, UNHCR staff members intending to apply to this Job Opening are requested to consult the Recruitment and Assignments Policy (RAP, UNHCR/HCP/2017/2 and the Recruitment and Assignments Administrative Instruction (RAAI), UNHCR/AI/2017/7 OF 15 August 2017.

Senior Legal Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The Senior Legal Officer (SLO) is Head of the Protection or Legal Unit either at Headquarters (within the Division of International Protection or in a Regional Bureau) or in a Country or Sub-Office and reports to the Assistant or Deputy Representative for Protection, directly to the Representative or as appropriate, to the Head of Sub-Office. The incumbent has direct supervisory responsibility for protection and legal staff who may include community services, registration, resettlement and education. He/she provides functional protection oversight to information management and programme staff and supervises protection standards, the provision of legal and policy advice, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery at the country level. The incumbent also acts as an advisor to senior management in designing a comprehensive protection strategy and
represents the organization to authorities, UN sister agencies, partners and other stakeholders on protection doctrine and policy.

The Senior Legal Officer is normally a member of the Office senior management team and is relied upon by the Office to plan, lead and coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern. This includes ensuring that operational and advocacy responses in all sectors are shaped in a protection optic, mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. Another important element of the SLO's functions is to ensure that persons of concern are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT

Accountability
- Protection principles and international law as relevant to persons of concern to UNHCR are promoted.
- UNHCR's protection and legal work is guided by a coherent strategy to provide quality protection advice.
- UNHCR's policies, standards and doctrine are consistently and coherently applied, and adapted to the country context. 

Responsibility
- Develop background and general policy and legal positions.
- Provide prompt, principled and accurate guidance and advice on the interpretation and application of international instruments relating to persons of concern, global protection positions and policies and, as required, on the development of situation/country-specific guidance.
- Monitor and influence the development of national and/or regional laws, policies and processes, as appropriate.
- Engage with external partners and stakeholders, including governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, etc on issues related to legal protection principles and related international law.
- Handle individual cases and situations raising special questions of application or interpretation of international law, refugee and human rights law.
- Develop strategies at the country/regional level in conjunction with DIP and the Bureaux. 
- Organize expert and other meetings on specific issues, including preparation of background research materials
- Gather, analyse and disseminate information on political, legal, social and economic developments which have a bearing on UNHCR's protection activities in the area to promote the adoption of protection policies and activities.

Authority
- Represent Office in meetings within UNHCR and with external counterparts.
- Apply existing doctrine to relevant situations.
- Initiate, design and negotiate new legal and policy positions at the country/regional level as appropriate.
- Develop project proposals and project implementation.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

- Graduate degree (equivalent of a Master's) in law/international law, political science with law as a major subject, with preference for international law, human rights or refugee law.
- Minimum 8 years of relevant professional work experience (9 years with undergraduate degree (equivalent of a BA/BS)).
Minimum 5 years of working experience in an international capacity.
- Excellent legal research, analytical and drafting.
- Excellent knowledge of English and working knowledge of another UN language.

(In offices where the working language is not English, excellent knowledge of UN working language of duty station and working knowledge of English.)

***For National Officer positions, very good knowledge of local language and local institutions is essential.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

- Completion of UNHCR Learning Programme and Protection (PLP) C001L3 - Accountability Level 3
C002L3 - Teamwork & Collaboration Level 3
C003L3 - Communication Level 3
C004L3 - Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 3
C005L3 - Client & Result Orientation Level 3
C006L3 - Organizational Awareness Level 3
M001L3 - Empowering and Building Trust Level 3
M006L3 - Managing Resources Level 3
M004L3 - Strategic Planning and Vision Level 3
M002L3 - Managing Performance Level 3
M003L3 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
X006L3 - Policy Development & Research Level 3
X001L3 - Analytical Thinking Level 3
X007L3 - Political Awareness Level 3

Before applying to this position, we strongly encourage colleagues to read the country specific FAQs information leaflets which can be found  on the Intranet under Staff Resources > Duty of Care. The information leaflets are specifically designed to answer some of the key questions potential applicants might have before deciding to apply. 

The incumbent should have a well-rounded protection profile, with experience of complex, large-scale IDP and return operations.  In relation to refugees, experience of RSD, resettlement and registration issues would be important in order to be able to supervise a large team in these areas.  He/she needs a level of maturity to be able to lead, coach and guide a fairly sizeable team of some 60 staff, and should therefore possess solid managerial skills.  Experience in the technical areas outlined above would be desirable. He/she should be an experienced and sound legal mind who is able to confidently and diplomatically navigate in an environment where legal/protection issues are often very sensitive to raise and address. The incumbent will be required to intensively engage with several external actors including Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, Immigration Department officers, legislators etc. where diplomatic persistence and pragmatism are key requirements. Experience and skills:

-A degree in law or other qualification with substantial components of refugee law or human rights law would be essential, in order to properly design and implement UNHCR¿s legal protection strategies and to provide comments on national legislation to bridge the gaps between the national legislation and international legal standards concerning the protection of persons of concern to UNHCR.
-Ability to manage and coach a large team engaged in cross cutting issues as well as guide colleagues working in other functional areas would be essential.  
-Operational experience in an inter-agency context and large-scale emergency operations (IDPs, returnees, refugees), and familiarity with the inter-agency set-up and coordination mechanisms would be important, as would UNHCR experience in registration, RSD and resettlement
-Experience in civil registration/documentation and HLP issues would be desirable.
-Excellent analytical and drafting skills are essential as this post involves a lot of drafting of concepts, planning documents, analyses and reports.
-Ability to negotiate with and provide guidance to government officials on protection related issues would be important.
-Ability to identify capacity-building needs and implement training activities would be important.
-Fluency in Arabic would be an asset, provided other elements of the functional profile are met. A number of drivers, including insecurity, economic and financial measures imposed on Syria, the deepening economic decline, and reduced availability of basic services, have further exacerbated the humanitarian situation and tested community resilience due to disruption of livelihoods and psychosocial distress and have resulted in increasing trends towards harmful coping mechanisms. Displacement has resulted in family separation and the breakdown of the social protection structure, exposing children, women-headed households, the elderly and persons with disabilities to heightened risks, including exploitation, SGBV, trafficking, early marriage, school drop-out and child labour/recruitment. Loss of civil documentation with the resulting impact on freedom of movement affects people's access to safety, assistance and basic services as well as livelihoods and exposes them to risks of harassment, exploitation and potential statelessness. In addition, with increasing numbers of returns, housing, land and property (HLP) issues are increasingly emerging as a key protection concern. Syria is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees/1967 Protocol and has also not enacted dedicated national refugee legislation. Refugees and asylum-seekers are therefore subject to the provisions of immigration/residence laws, which do not provide sufficient legal safeguards in line with international protection standards. In the absence of a national asylum framework, UNHCR continues to exercise its mandate for refugee protection in Syria by ensuring continuous registration, refugee status determination (RSD), issuance of documentation, provision of basic needs, and identification of durable solutions for refugees. As of mid-2017, almost 60,000 refugees and asylum-seekers remain in Syria, mostly from Iraq (with other main countries of origin being Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran and Somalia). Although Syria maintains a generous approach to refugees/asylum-seekers (granting them free access to health, education and transportation services), since the onset of the conflict in 2011, the protection environment has seriously deteriorated, and refugees are facing (multiple) displacements, tightened security procedures at checkpoints, while difficulties in obtaining the required residency permit result in freedom of movement restriction, expose refugees to arrest/detention, harassment and exploitation, and affect their access to safety, assistance and basic services. Coupled with the prohibition to seek formal employment, these factors are impacting very negatively on refugees¿ livelihoods and affirmed their dependence on UNHCR assistance. Within the above-described operational context, the Senior Legal Officer will directly supervise the Registration, Refugee Status Determination (RSD), Resettlement and Legal Units and provide guidance and advice, develop operational strategies, contribute to operational planning exercises including at the inter-agency level, reporting on protection objectives related to his/her portfolio, and engage in capacity-building initiatives on issues related to UNHCR¿s protection policies and legal issues, in particular in relation to civil registration/documentation for all population groups, related statelessness concerns, and HLP rights, as well as other subjects related to international human rights and humanitarian principles. A division of responsibilities will evolve between roving positions to be created for example on civil documentation and HLP issues.  The incumbent will provide advice and guidance in line with the UNHCR Syria protection strategy to six field offices in the ongoing decentralization process, as well as other functional units in the Country Office, and co-ordinate with the Protection and Community Services, Shelter and other Sectors related to his/her functional responsibilities. Currently the duties also involve representation of UNHCR in the Technical Working Group on HLP that coordinates HLP issues between relevant agencies and in support of the Protection and Community Services as well as Shelter Sectors. In the 7th year of the Syrian conflict, the humanitarian and protection needs are increasing across all sectors while at the same time becoming more complex. According to the 2016 HNO, 13.5 million Syrians are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance including 6.3 million IDPs and 4.5 million people living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas with very limited access to basic services, including health care, education and civil documentation as well as water, electricity and essential daily needs.  More than 5 million Syrians are refugees in neighbouring countries and preparedness is underway for Syria to eventually become the world¿s largest repatriation operation.  With expected fresh displacements and an increasing number of spontaneous returns (primarily IDPs but increasingly also Syrian refugees from neighbouring countries) occurring in parallel in the context of further territorial gains by the Government of Syria, the overall situation will continue to be characterized by serious violations of IHL/HR law by all parties to the conflict and an absence of effective protection of civilians. At the same time, people¿s capacity to mitigate protection risks is diminishing, due to multiple displacement, depleted resources and a change of community/family structures resulting from the fact that many, particularly men, have lost their lives, tens of thousands have `disappeared¿, joined armed forces, been detained or sought refuge abroad, with women or elderly persons often remaining as the sole breadwinners for their families. Human rights violations and abuses occur in the context of a breakdown of law and order as well as public services in parts of the country, and freedom of movement/access constraints The present unstable security situation in Syria creates pressures at work as priorities are frequently upended for other urgent ad hoc tasks. The incumbent should be prepared to work under such conditions and be able to manage stressful situations.

Please note that the closing date for all vacancies in the September 2017 Compendium is Monday 6 November 2017 (midnight Geneva time).