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UN Women: Gender Specialist, SGBV Investigator

Geneva

  • Organization: UNWOMEN - United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
  • Location: Geneva
  • Grade: Mid level - P-4, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Women's Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming
    • Internal audit, Investigation and Inspection
    • Sexual and reproductive health
    • Gender-based violence
  • Closing Date: Closed

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 under international law.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead the analytical and technical support on sexual and gender-based violence:

  • Analyze existing documentation and provide advice on gender-sensitive information gathering methods for all aspects of investigations including interviewing, security arrangements, safe handling of information;
  • Research and collect information pertaining to sexual and gender based violence related to the mandate of the mission; including through meetings with authorities and the opposition; meetings with relevant actors, and individual interviews with sources, witnesses and victims, as required
  • Provide technical support to the work of international accountability bodies supported by UN Women :
  • Ensure proper collection and preservation of information on cases of SGBV and other gender based human rights violations and abuses;
  • Ensure that the transitional justice related work of the Commission takes into account the gender aspect.

Conduct Risk Assessments and collection of information missions:

  • Conduct risk assessments and provide advice on the establishment of adequate protection measures with respect to sources who share information with the mission on gender and sexual violence;
  • Conduct and/or assist in the conduct of interviews and evidence gathering activities, ensuring that necessary measures of protection and confidentiality for witness and victim of women’s human rights violation are implemented throughout and that the gender-specific impact of violations is assessed;
  • Participate to selected country visits to take part in the information gathering activities.

Lead partnership building initiatives:

  • Liaise with international accountability bodies and UN Women;
  • Advise the members of the Commission and the Secretariat on the gendered dimensions of human rights violations, including through gender analysis and training, ensuring integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Commission.

Provide technical support and coordination on reporting:

  • 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;
  • Contribute to the drafting and timely submission of the final report of the Commission and other analytical documents and ensure that such document integrate a gender perspective and that gender-sensitive language is used throughout them.

Manage and oversee team members:

  • Develop annual workplan and budget for activities;
  • Develop end of year report;
  • Ensure that all Team members are aware of the relevant gendered dimensions of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, including sexual violence, women’s human rights and gender issues related to the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry and ensure that the gender-specific impact of all human rights violations are assessed.

Perform any other duties, as required by the Chief, Peace and Security, UN Women in coordination with the Coordinator of the Commission of Inquiry.

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;
  • gender-sensitive approaches that advance women’s access to justice;
  • Sharing of technical knowledge; and
  • Quality of reports.

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.

Functional Competencies:

  • Strong 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 leadership skills;
  • Strong communication and negotiation skills;
  • Excellent analytical capacity;
  • Strong 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 University Degree (Masters or equivalent) preferably in law, political science, or international relations. 

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of 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.

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.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
This vacancy is now closed.
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