Legal Intern

Background

UN Women 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.

Unit/Project Background:

Gender responsive justice and constitutions are critical pathways for the achievement of gender equality and underpin accountability to women. Operating interdependently, UN Women’s rule of law work aims to ensure that women are visible in all aspects of constitution-making and that structural barriers confronting them in their efforts to access justice are addressed. This two-track area of work addresses visible gaps in implementation of considerable investments in law reform in the past 30 years and supports the implementation of UN Women’s Strategic Plan (2018-2021).

Under the justice component, UN Women makes a concrete difference in women’s lives through appropriate upstream and downstream interventions in civil, family and criminal justice. UN Women Country Offices are working with various Judicial Training Institutes to promote sustainable government-led training for justice actors and delivering legal aid in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations. UN Women’s work on gender responsive constitution-making hinges on its country support and strategic utilization of a Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database, which is a repository of gender equality-related provisions contained in 195 constitutions in five geographical regions (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania). Originally created in 2013 on the basis of 16 gender equality categories, the database was relaunched in 2016 with an expanded searchable capacity of 24 categories and 19 sub categories. The extracts are available in the original languages of the constitutional text and their respective English translations

Duties and Responsibilities

Working closely with the Rule of Law Advisor, the Intern will undertake the following tasks:

• Assist in the development of women’s access to justice country profiles;
• Carry out research and prepare succinct reports on different areas related to women’s access to justice and legal reforms, including within the context of partnerships with various United Nations agencies, academia, civil society organizations and the private sector;
• Provide support to the organization of meetings and other activities related to the rule of law as needed.

Learning Objectives:

The unit to which the Intern is assigned will be responsible for providing adequate learning opportunities and exposure to a wide range of the Leadership and Governance Section’s work – policy and programme advice, creation of knowledge products, organization of workshops, and partnerships with leading institutions in relevant areas.

The Intern will be introduced to the larger range of policy work done by various sections in the Policy Division of UN Women and the various policy documents prepared by the governance teams in headquarters and in the regions.

The Intern will also be provided with networking and broader learning opportunities through Brown Bag Lunches, and Learn 

Competencies

Integrity: 

• Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the United Nations Code of Conduct.

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: 

• Demonstrated appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to apply global gender equality principles, including gender equality in access to justice and constitutional reform; feminist legal theory and gender mainstreaming in research and advocacy.
• Inter-agency or inter-organization collaboration an advantage.

Communication: 

• Good written and oral communication;  
• Ability to prepare succinct, evidence-based analytical reports.

Teamwork: 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations, both within the Unite Nations system and externally;
• Ability to work in a multicultural and multiethnic environment with respect for diversity.

Ethics and Values 

• Demonstrating /Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity

 Organizational Awareness: 

• Self-management and emotional intelligence; 
• Creating synergies through self-control.

Knowledge Sharing/Continuous Learning:

• Learning and sharing knowledge.

Functional Competencies:

Ready to learn and provide support to the team as needed. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Studies in law, political science or related discipline.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required;
• As this position requires the identification of sources in other languages, proficiency in another United Nations working language will be an asset.

Interns are not financially remunerated by UN Women.

Application Information:

• UN Women will only be able to respond to those applications in which there is further interest;
• Selected applicants must provide the internship application, two letters of recommendation, proof of health insurance and school enrollment, passport, and visa (if applicable).

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

UN Women Internship Policy:

1) Applicants to the United Nations internship programme must at the time of application meet one of the following requirements:

(a)   Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);

(b)   Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelors level or equivalent);

(c)   Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) or (b) above) and, if selected, must commence the internship within a one-year period of graduation.

2) UN Women internship programme does not provide a salary or remuneration for the internship;

3) All the expenses connected with the internship will be borne by the intern, sponsoring Government or institution;

4) UN Women accepts no responsibility for costs arising from accidents and/or illness or death incurred during the internship;

5) The intern is responsible for obtaining necessary visas and arranging travel to and from the duty station where the internship will be performed;

6) Interns are not eligible to apply for, or be appointed to positions in the professional and above category in UN Women during the period of the internship or for six months immediately following the expiration date of internship;

7) The intern must provide proof of enrollment in a health insurance plan, proof of school enrollment, a scanned copy of his/her passport, two letters of recommendation, and application.

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