Associate Protection Officer

Candidates must be primarily Turkish nationals. Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Senior Protection Officer, Head of Policy Development Unit. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community-based protection registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024),  Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support  and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.

The Associate Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of persons of concern. 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.


All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR's core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
- Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
- Promote International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Foster their consistent and coherent interpretation and application through mainstreaming in all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations.
- Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.  
- Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
- Conduct eligibility and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
- Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
- Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy to ensure programmes use a child protection systems approach.
- Contribute to a country-level education plan.
- Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
- Oversee and manage individual protection cases, including those on SGBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
- Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern.
- Participate in the organisation and implementation of participatory assessments and methodologies throughout the operations management cycle and promote AGD sensitive programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
- Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems. 
- Promote and integrate community-based approaches to protection and contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
- Support activities in the area of risk management related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, fraud, case-processing, data protection, and human rights due diligence at country level.
- Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
- Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
- Negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR.
- Decide priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
- Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
- Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For NOB - 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses
Protection Learning Programme

Relevant Job Experience

Essential:
Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles.

Desirable:
Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.

Functional Skills
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*LE-International Refugee Law
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) Coordination
MG-Projects management
PR-PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Protection and mixed-movements
PR-Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Operations & IDPs Status/Rights/Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
PR-Community-based Protection
MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation


Language Requirements
Knowledge of English and local language, Turkish.
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See below for this postion's Operational Context
======================================================================================================== Current Situation

The international obligations of Turkey and its national legislative framework on asylum have shaped the form of the current collaboration with UNHCR. During the last 57 years, UNHCR and Turkey have been working together in close partnership. Turkey has provided the asylum space for persons seeking refuge, and UNHCR has assisted Turkey to determine who is in need of international protection and to enable access to rights by these persons. As the main partner of the Turkish State in the field of international protection, UNHCR Turkey continues to provide legislative and technical support as well as institutional capacity building support to the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) and other national institutions.

As regard Syrian nationals who are hosted in Turkey under a Temporary Protection (TP) framework for Syrian nationals, refugees and stateless, UNHCR¿s work is to support the authorities through the provision of technical assistance and strong public advocacy for enhanced responsibility sharing.

UNHCR in Turkey processes cases in close consultation with DGMM for the purposes of resettlement, intervenes to strengthen the protection environment and access to social support mechanisms, and endeavours to find durable solutions for the most vulnerable amongst those who are recognized as refugees provided they meet the criteria of the resettlement countries.

UNHCR in Turkey operates through a branch office in Ankara, with a sub-office in Gaziantep and a field office in Istanbul, as well as field units in Ankara, Izmir, Sanliurfa, Hatay and Van.

Profile Statement

The Assistant Protection Officer is a member of the Policy Development Unit (PDU) in the Country Operation and reports to the Senior Protection Officer, Head of PDU.

The incumbent contributes to the work of the Unit designing a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he assists in the preparation and drafting of position papers to support national asylum procedures as a part of the Unit¿s overall work. S/he supports the Unit¿s efforts in enhancing the quality and efficiency of national refugee status determination procedures through devising project proposals and monitoring implementation of the programs conducted with the partners. The incumbent contributes to a country-level monitoring of asylum procedures as a part of the Unit¿s objectives to deliver recommendations for strengthening access to the procedures and implementation of procedural safeguards. S/he initiates efforts to reinforce national and local technical capacities through platforms and tools developed by UNHCR and capacity-development activities. Closing date for applications is 23 August 2019.