Expert Trainer in Human Rights Litigation

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS LITIGATION TRAINER

Call Title: Expert Trainer in Human Rights Litigation

Theme: Legal Assistance to HRDs at risk

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Contract Type: Consultant (Regional consultant preferred)**

Training Dates: 7-9 December 2020

Duration of Assignment: 6 days (4 preparation days & 2 training days)

Introduction

The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) together with its partner Chapter One Foundation Limited (COF) is implementing a 9-month project focused on providing a rapid legal response to human rights defenders and media practitioners at risk in Zambia. The overall goal of the rapid response activity is to provide urgent legal assistance to human rights defenders and media practitioners at risk. The project has three components that address human rights protection, prevention and advocacy for human rights defenders and media practitioners at risk. To promote sustainability of legal aid beyond the life of the project, the intervention includes a capacity building component aimed to cultivate a network of lawyers with specialized skills and commitment to public interest lawyering for timely and impactful interventions.

The specific objectives of the project include:

1. Establish a network of specialized lawyers capable of providing urgent legal assistance to HRDs and media practitioners;
2. Provide urgent legal assistance to human rights defenders and media practitioners at risk;
3. Achieve greater engagement and protection by national, regional and international mechanisms on the situation of HRDs and media practitioners at risk.

To achieve the goals of the project, COF is establishing a legal defense fund intended to facilitate the uptake of human rights related cases during and immediately after the upcoming 2021 national elections. To operationalize the fund, COF will identify lawyers willing to undertake election related human rights cases and provide them with a week-long intensive training to re-orient the lawyers on human rights litigation skills and strategies to be applied both at the national and international levels. The training aims to build the capacity of at least 20 lawyers in the field of human rights litigation in Zambia during the election period and beyond in order to advance human rights litigation efforts in the country.

Objectives

The objective of the training is to enhance the skills of the lawyers registered to provide legal services under the legal defense fund. The training will ensure the lawyers are equipped to effectively represent human rights defenders who come into conflict with the law during and after the impending 2021 national elections.

The human rights litigation training will be facilitated by 2 national consultants and 2 international consultants who will cover the following topics: human rights practice and procedures in Zambia, human rights litigation (international principles and best practices; and interaction with international and regional bodies) and security during human rights litigation.

Scope of work

ABA ROLI and COF are seeking one expert trainer with experience in human rights litigation in Africa, at both the national and regional/international levels. The selected expert will design and administer a 1.5-day training session for 20 Zambian lawyers. The specific deliverables include the following:

1. Develop curriculum for a knowledge and skills training on human rights litigation, to include: best practices and principles; use of regional and international human rights mechanisms; and legal protection/framework related to Human Rights Defenders;
2. Conduct knowledge and skills trainings for up to 20 lawyers to strengthen their capacity on the use of regional and international human rights mechanisms to protect rights in Zambia;
3. Develop/provide reference and guidance materials, manuals and forms for participants to consult and learn about additional sources of information that can facilitate their work.

The training will be participatory in nature, incorporating practical application of skills that are directly relevant to participants and the use of case studies where applicable. The expert will be expected to include information/tools particularly relevant to the target group (lawyers providing legal assistance under rapid response fund).

Expert Trainer Qualifications and Experience

· Bachelor’s and/or Master’s Degree in Law or Human Rights; **

· At least 5-10 years of professional experience at national, regional or international levels engaging in human rights litigation (strategic litigation and/or rapid response legal assistance)**

· Candidates must demonstrate a strong understanding and knowledge of the African human rights system/mechanisms as well as international human rights protection mechanisms;**

· Demonstrated knowledge/experience working with human rights defenders at risk;

· Demonstrated experience in facilitating litigation workshops and/or teaching human rights law in similar contexts; **

· Good understanding of country context and legal system in Zambia (preferred) **

· English fluency & excellent communication, presentation skills. **

Application Procedure

Interested and qualified applicants must submit their applications to africa-recruitment@abaroli.org by the 20^th of November 2020. The application must contain an application letter demonstrating the suitability of the applicant for the assignment, a detailed curriculum vitae and a daily rate for the 6-day assignment.

About the conveners:

The American Bar Association –Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) is a public service project of the American Bar Association, with over 25 years of experience delivering international rule-of-law technical assistance, currently implementing programs in nearly 60 countries worldwide and over 10 countries in Africa. In Africa, ABA ROLI has been working for several years in close partnership with governments and civil society partners to increase access to justice and strengthen rule of law institutions to enhance protection for national populations, particularly the most marginalized in society.

Chapter One Foundation Limited (COF) promotes and protects human rights, human rights defenders, constitutionalism, social justice and the rule of law in Zambia, primarily through strategic litigation, advocacy and capacity building. Our aim is to promote and protect the Constitution and the rights included in it and by so doing, free the space for Zambians to fully participate in the democratic governance of the country.

Interested applicants please submit your application to ruta.hadgu@americanbar.org