Child Protection Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

Under Resolution 2677 (2023), the Security Council determined that the situation in South Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region. The Council extended the UNMISS mandate until 15 March 2024. It also emphasized that the Mission should continue advancing its three-year strategic vision defined in resolution 2567 (2021) to prevent a return to civil war, build durable peace and support inclusive, accountable governance as well as free, fair and peaceful elections in accordance with the Revitalized Peace Agreement. Under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, UNMISS is therefore authorized to use all necessary means to implement its mandate which includes: (a) Protection of civilians (b) Creating conditions conducive to the delivery of humanitarian assistance (c) Supporting the Implementation of the Revitalised Agreement and the Peace Process (d) Monitoring, investigating, and reporting on violations of humanitarian and human rights law The overall ceiling for uniformed personnel is maintained at 17,000 troops and 2,101 police, including 88 corrections officers. Please refer to https://unmiss.unmissions.org/mandate for more information.

Context

The UNMISS Child Protection Unit (CPU) is currently supporting the parties to the conflict in the implementation of the Comprehensive Action Plan to halt and prevent grave violations against children signed early 2020. CPU is also implementing its monitoring and reporting mandate and requires staff in all its field offices.

Task description

• Provide support to the training and awareness raising team of the UNMISS Child Protection Section. • Support the identification of the protection needs of children in the mission area, and advises and assists the mission leadership in devising the mission strategy for the implementation of the child protection mandate of the mission in line with the DPKO Child Protection policy, the Mission’s mandate and UN Security Council resolutions on Children and Armed Conflict (1261, 1314, 1379, 1460, 1539, 1612, 1882, 1998, 2068, 2143 and 2225); • Establish a viable management and screening database of the information collected in the field. • Contribute to ensuring that the Section leadership is apprised of the full array of child protection issues and advises on ways and strategies for the Mission and its leadership to address them. • Assist the Senior Child Protection Adviser, to ensure that the protection, rights and well-being of children are mainstreamed through training workshops, induction courses, included and addressed in all aspects of the UN mission’s activities, policies and strategic planning processes, including but not limited to peace consolidation, protection of civilians and stabilization • Work in collaboration with relevant partners such as UNICEF and/or other UN agencies, to ensure that the protection needs of children and adequate responses to violations committed against children are on the agendas of all relevant conflict resolution and peacebuilding entities, UN coordination mechanisms, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international donor community in the mission’s area of operations. • Work with UN peace operation components, including UN police and military, Human Rights, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Rule of Law, Civil Affairs, Political Affairs, to integrate child protection in their work, activities and strategies. • Provide training, guidance and expertise on child protection issues, tools and methodologies to other components and sections of United Nations peace operations. • Support the implementation and follow-up on mandated tasks as per relevant Security Council resolutions (SCRs) on children and armed conflict, and, where relevant, the conclusions of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. • Supports the implementation of the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) under S/RES/1612 (2005); • Support the coordination of the mission’s delivery on mission-wide monitoring and reporting of the six grave violations against children identified by the UN Security Council, in conjunction with the CTFMR and other relevant actors as appropriate. • Support the collection of and/or collects reliable, accurate and timely data on and, where necessary, conducts investigations into the six grave violations against children. • Supports the development of analysis on trends and patterns of grave violations against children to support response strategies. • Supports the regular and timely reporting on child protection issues in line with the DPKO policy and reporting guidelines, including inputs to periodic country-specific reports to the Security Council, and submits timely reports to the Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict, including, but not limited to the Global Horizontal Notes, country-specific SG reports on children and armed conflict, and annual SG reports on children and armed conflict. • Engages and conducts training workshops with national stakeholders to promote inclusion of child protection in national and regional policies and advocate for the allocation of national resources to this end. • Establish and maintain partnerships with other experts and stakeholders (including host governments, the UN system and other international organizations, NGOs, the private sector, research institutes, and others) to discuss emerging topics related to child protection in the mission area. • Perform other duties as required.