Legal Officer – UNHCR

Job Description

Organization	United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Job Title	Legal Officer
Location	Khartoum, Sudan
Hardship Level	C
Job ID	33277
Salary Grade	NC
Family Location Type	Family
Closing Date	02/02/2022

Eligible Applicants

This Job Opening is available to eligible UNHCR staff members and external applicants.

Procedures and Eligibility

Interested applicants should consult the Administrative Instruction on Recruitment and Assignment of Locally Recruited Staff (RALS). Applicants must be nationals of, and be locally recruited within the country of their employment.

Duties and Qualifications

Legal Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Legal Officer is a member of the protection or legal team either at Headquarters (within the Division of International Protection or in a Regional Bureau), or in a Country or Sub-Office and may, depending of the size and structure of the Office, be Head of the Protection or Legal Unit. He/she may report to the Senior Protection or Senior Legal Officer, Head of Sub-Office or to the Assistant Representative for Protection. In smaller Offices, the post may report directly to the Representative. The incumbent has direct supervisory responsibility for protection or legal staff who may include community services, registration, resettlement and education. He/she provides functional protection oversight to information management and programme staff; and supervises protection standards, the provision of legal and policy advice, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery at local or country level. The incumbent also acts as an advisor to senior management in designing a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization to authorities, UN sister agencies, partners and other stakeholders on protection doctrine and policy.

The Legal Officer is relied upon by the Office to plan, lead and coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern (POC). This includes ensuring that operational and advocacy responses in all sectors are shaped in a protection optic, mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. Another important function of the position is to ensure that POC are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. 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

• Monitor the development of law and doctrine.
• Advocate for proper interpretation of law and doctrine as well as in the development of standards of protection.
• Provide legal advice on these issues and drafting of position papers and guidelines on pertinent legal and operational issues.
• Provide guidance and support in the formulation of protection strategies.
• Liaise with DIP, Division and Bureau work units and external actors to enhance awareness of protection principles.
• Engage with external partners and stakeholders, including governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, etc, on issues related to legal protection principles and related international law.
• Handle individual cases and situations raising special questions of application or interpretation of international law, refugee and human rights law.
• Represent Office in meetings within UNHCR and with external counterparts.
• Prepare protection documents and policies in cooperation with supervisor.
• Participate in the development of project proposals and project implementation. Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience

Years of Experience / Degree Level

For P3/NOC – 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education

Law; Refugee Law; Human Rights Law;
International Humanitarian Law; or other relevant field.;
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Certificates and/or Licenses

HCR Learning Prog;
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential:

Excellent legal research, analytical and drafting skill.

Desirable:

Completion of UNHCR learning programmes on protection would be an asset or any other equivalent external courses.

Functional Skills

CO-Drafting and Documentation
LE-Legal Research
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

See below for this postion’s Operational Context

Sudan hosts over 3 million Persons of Concern, out of which some 1 million are refugees and asylum seekers and 2.4 million are IDPs. The South Sudanese refugees are the largest group with almost 800,000 persons living across Sudan, followed by 125,000 Eritreans. Approximately 70% of the refugees are hosted in urban or semi-urban areas among host population and remaining 30% in camps and settlements. After the ousting of long-time President Bashir in 2019, Sudan is led by a transitional government engaged in a peace process with political parties and armed groups. An ongoing economic crisis since 2017 affects millions of Sudanese increasing the levels of poverty and food insecurity. The Sudan operation has a large caseload of South Sudanese refugees, as well as a protracted caseload of mainly Eritreans in the East, and urban refugees in Khartoum. New arrival flows from Eritrea continue to be small but steady, with approximately 50 % moving onwards once brought to the camp. Smuggling and trafficking of persons has been a significant problem in Sudan for years. With the on-going peace process, return of IDPs and refugees is likely to pick up in the coming years. The UNHCR operation which responds to the needs of refugees, asylum seekers, Sudanese refugee returnees, IDPs and IDP returnees, as well as stateless persons or persons at risk of statelessness. UNHCR leads the inter-sectoral response to the refugee response in Sudan through the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM), and works with a variety of implementing and operational partners (Government, UN, International, National NGOs and Community Based Organizations). For the IDP response, UNHCR leads the Protection and ES/NFI clusters under the IASC approach and leads the Durable Solutions Working Group and the COVID-19 CCCM Task Force.
Under the supervision of the Senior Protection Officer, the Legal Officer (LO) will support the coordination and implementation of a diverse range of legal and protection activities. The candidate will also be in charge or organizing and delivering capacity building. S/he should have strong knowledge of international refugee and human rights law. The LO assists in making demarches to the Sudanese Government, judicial interventions and comments and suggestions on asylum policy and draft legislation, which require in-depth knowledge of international protection principles, high levels of awareness of political sensitivity as well as advocacy, coordination and negotiation skills.
UNHCR Sudan has a total of 15 sub and field offices throughout the country, responding to emergencies as well as protracted refugee situations in urban, camp-based and rural settlement contexts as well as IDPs.
Khartoum is classified as C family duty station. Khartoum features a desert climate (at times very hot and dusty), with only the months of July and August seeing significant precipitation.  Its average annual temperature is about 37.1 °C (99 °F). Particularly, staff with allergy may be affected by the dust. Medical and leisure facilities are limited.  It is possible to find decent houses and apartments with stable water and electricity supply.
Security Level 2 pertains in Khartoum state, however due to the current political situation. Staff sensitivity to Sudanese culture and dress code is very important. Assigned staff needs to have completed the BSAFE module and produce copies of certification in order to obtain UN identification card in Sudan and  update the TRIP profile. Driving and traffic in Khartoum poses the greatest threat to staff safety and staff should avoid the use of Tuk-Tuk taxies. Criminality is low in Khartoum but expat accommodation is being targeted.

Closing Date

The Closing Date for this JO is 02 February 2022.