Visiting Professional - Office of Public Counsel for Defence

19458 | Registry

Required Documents for This Application

Please note that you will need to have the following information ready in order to complete your application:

• A completed “Duties and Responsibilities Form” (refer to step 1 on your eRecruitment Profile page).
• Motivation letter (maximum of 400 words).
• One reference letter.
• Scanned copies of university degrees and/or diplomas (to be added at the essay upload box).

Contract Duration

Visiting professionals are required to work full time for a period between (minimum) three and six months (to be agreed to prior to commencement). Visiting professional placements shall not be extended beyond six months.

The starting date of the placement may vary, upon agreement. Candidates can be recruited for a time period shorter than 6 months. Applications of candidates indicating availability beyond the present selection cycle may be considered in the context of the next selection cycle.

Organisational Context

The Office of Public Counsel for the Defence (OPCD) is an independent Office of the Court that is dedicated to the work of the Defence. Established pursuant to Regulation 77 of the Regulations of the Court, the OPCD endeavours to promote, represent and protect the Defence, raising the profile of Defence issues. In the day-to-day, the OPCD follows all cases to create a collective Defence memory and resource centre — to learn from the experiences of the individual ICC Defence teams and provide legal resources, research and advice as requested by them. The Counsel of the OPCD also remains available to be called upon by the Chambers to represent a suspect/defendant in proceedings or provide opinion on specific questions of law. In performing their tasks, members of the Office act independently and are bound by the Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel.

Duties and Responsibilities

Typical duties and responsibilities of visiting professionals are:

1. Conduct research on a wide range of complex legal issues;
2. Draft memoranda, summaries, legal notes, and meeting minutes;
3. Follow proceedings to assist with team assistance;
4. Participate in internal meetings of the Court and presentations to external groups.

Required Qualifications

Education:

All Candidates must have an advanced degree in law (L.L.M. or J.D.) from a recognised university having undertaken coursework in international/national criminal law, comparative law and criminology, public international law, international humanitarian law and/or human rights. Candidates are expected to have a very good record of academic performance.

Experience:

Visiting Professional placements focus on candidates who have extensive experience in their professional careers in relevant fields of work. Practical experience that is relevant to the work of the Court may be considered an asset. Candidates for a Visiting Professional placement must have at least 3 (three) years of relevant professional experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ablility to adapt to multicultural and multilingual working environment.
• Strong teamwork skills (listens, consults and communicates proactively) with equal ability to work independently.
• Good research and drafting skills.
• High standard of computer skills (including Microsoft Office applications and electronic databases).

Knowledge of Languages:

Proficiency in one of the working languages of the Court, French or English, is required. Working knowledge of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another official language of the Court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) is an asset.
 

Other criteria:

In line with the ICC’s efforts to improve geographical representation among staff, nationals of the countries listed below are strongly encouraged to apply.

Non-represented or under-represented countries at the ICC as of 30 November 2019: Afghanistan, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cabo Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Gabon, Germany, Grenada, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Namibia, Nauru, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Slovakia, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tunisia, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia.

Remuneration

Please note that the ICC is not able to provide all participants in the Internship and Visiting Professional Programme with remuneration, nor is it possible to provide reimbursement for expenses incurred during the internship or visiting professional placement.

Applicants should therefore be able to support themselves for the duration of their internship or placement. 

Limited funding may, however, be available through the ICC’s Trust Fund for the Development of Interns and Visiting Professionals, which receives donations from States Parties and other donors to fund nationals of States Parties from developing regions. These donations are equally divided between the four Organs of the Court.

If funding is available, the Human Resources Section shall assess a candidate’s eligibility in accordance with the terms of reference of the Trust Fund as agreed by the donors. 

In order to be eligible, the applicant must, among other criteria, be a national from a country that is a State Party to the Rome Statue and appears on the United Nations Statistics Division’s list of developing regions.

Candidates eligible for funding shall receive detailed information and further instructions after the selection process is finalized. Stipends will always be agreed at the time of offering the internship. No funding will be provided at a later stage.