UN Women: Gender Specialist - SGBV Investigator

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.

Peace and Security is a key area of UN Women's work. At headquarters, the Peace and Security Section leads on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace and Security, provides technical and financial support to the peace and security work of UN Women field offices, and implements a number of global initiatives that range from training women on mediation, peacekeepers on preventing and responding to sexual violence, and experts on investigation and documentation of international crimes, to rapidly deploying gender advisors to commissions of inquiry, peace talks, and post-conflict planning and financing processes, supporting gender-responsive public service delivery, and linking women in the community and grassroots organizations to police and other actors to ensure better protection.

A key area of UN-Women’s work is ensuring access to justice for women and the equal application of the rule of law. Effective judicial and legal systems not only ensure the protection and advancement of women’s rights, but can provide an enabling environment to address discriminatory practices which impede development. From a women’s human rights and rule of law perspective, at no time is legal protection more necessary, or more fragile, than during and in the immediate aftermath of conflicts when women’s experiences of insecurity and violations often continue unabated. Securing accountability and ending impunity for sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and asserting women’s access to the full range of rights are some of the most challenging yet fundamental conditions for the restoration of the rule of law post-conflict.

Under the supervision of the Chief, Peace and Security, UN Women, and in close coordination with the relevant accountability mechanism, the Gender Specialist-SGBV Investigator will contribute to implementation of UN Women’s mandate on promoting women’s access to justice and the rule of law through providing technical support to international, regional and national accountability mechanisms in investigation, documentation and training of SGBV crimes and women’s human rights violations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Provide technical support to the work of accountability bodies supported by UN Women:

• Provide technical advice on the integration of gender-sensitive information gathering methods for all aspects of the mandate, including interviewing, security arrangements, victims and witness protection, including mapping and provision of referrals to service providers for victims and safe handling of information;
• Ensure proper collection and preservation of information and evidence on cases of SGBV and other gender based human rights violations and abuses, as mandated by the accountability body using the relevant legal framework(s);
• Provide technical inputs to interview notes, investigation reports, briefings and analytical documents including the final work product as required to ensure adequate attention to women’s human rights and gender issues;
• Ensure that the necessary measures of protection and confidentiality for witnesses and victims of women’s human rights violations and abuses are implemented, that security arrangements are gender-sensitive, and that cultural and contextual gender considerations are considered.

Provide research and analytical support:

• Research and collect information pertaining to women’s human rights and gender issues directly related to the situation.

Conduct or assist in conducting investigations:

• Ensure that the gender-specific impact of violations is assessed and; conduct and/or assist in the conduct of interviews and evidence gathering activities;
• Take part and organize missions in other countries.

Provide inputs to reports:

• Provide technical inputs to the final report and ensure that reports  integrate a gender perspective and that  gender-sensitive language is used throughout the report, this would include that the establishment of facts  and qualification of  violations reflect gender dimensions;
• Prepare an internal report for UN Women reflecting on the work of the Gender Specialist-SGBV Investigator and any recommendations for strengthening the gendered work of such bodies in future.

Perform any other duties, as required by the Chief, Peace and Security, UN Women in coordination with the accountability body.

Key Performance Indicators:

The appropriate investigation procedures of all accountability mechanisms supported by UN Women will reflect:

• Good practice in the investigation of SGBV cases, and the documentation of the full extent of violations of women’s rights under international law;
• Proper use of gender-sensitive approaches that advance women’s access to justice;
• Timely Sharing of technical knowledge;
• Quality and timeliness of reports.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity;
• Integrity;
• Professionalism.

Core Competencies:

• 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.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, and the gender dimensions of these legal frameworks.
• Proven ability to conduct complex human rights or criminal investigations, including expertise in monitoring and documenting SGBV, an understanding of gender-specific protection concerns, and experience interviewing vulnerable witnesses;
• Good analytical capacity;
• Knowledge in witness and victim protection and data protection;
• Ability to speak and write in a clear and gender-sensitive language;
• Familiarity with the UN system and knowledge of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced study (Master’s or equivalent) in law, political sciences, international relations, gender studies or other disciplines related to human rights.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in human rights, international criminal law, criminal investigations or a closely related field, particularly in the area of sexual and gender-based violence;
• Experience drafting public reports is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of a second UN language is an asset.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

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.