Senior Legal Associate

time left to apply End Date: December 2, 2024 (6 days left to apply)
job requisition id JR2450257
Hardship Level: A (least hardship)
Family Type: Family
Grade: GS7
Staff Member / Affiliate Type: General Service
Reason: Regular Assignment
Remote work acceptedNo
Target Start Date: ********
Deadline for Applications: December 1, 2024
Standard Job Description The Senior Legal Associate is a member of the protection/legal team and normally reports to a higher grade professional staff. The Senior Legal Associate assists an office in providing quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern. He is also required to assist an office in ensuring that persons of concern 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 and authorities as well as protection and assistance partners. The incumbent may supervise interns, volunteers, and interpreters, and may also supervise some support staff. S/he assists the protection team in making sure that protection standards, operational procedures, and practices in protection delivery are in line with international standards, and provides functional protection support and advice to other protection colleagues and other units.
S/he contributes to implementing, and adjusting when necessary, the office's comprehensive protection strategy including the role of UNHCR in the context of further strengthening the national capacity of relevant actors, both governmental e.g. Ministry of Justice, and non-governmental, e.g. NGOs and lawyers. In this regard, s/he represents the office externally on protection doctrine and policy as needed and under the guidance of the supervisor. S/he also works independently in constantly monitoring relevant legal and political developments, in both asylum and statelessness issues, and provides recommendations to the protection team on appropriate advocacy and interventions for the office to make.
The incumbent will be conducting research and following the judicial developments at the national and regional level. S/he will be supporting the preparation of legal materials that are shared with the national counterparts as recommendations. S/he will be engaged in preparing a compilation of good practices and comparative charts on a broad spectrum of topics and reporting of the developments. The incumbent will also support organizing capacity-building activities through preparation of materials and presenting the topics.
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 Assist in the preparation of legal advice and drafting of position papers and guidelines on pertinent legal and operational issues.Stay abreast of the domestic legal issues and pertinent laws regarding persons of concern and advise the office accordingly.Contribute to advocacy towards proper interpretation of law and doctrine as well as in the development of standards of protection.Liaise with the Legal Affairs Service on issues related to immunities of UNHCR personnel and provide corresponding guidance and support locally to concerned staff.Liaise and intervene with national, regional or local authorities in relation to the above areas of responsibility, as required.Assist in the organization of training sessions for legal professionals and asylum case workers and judges in the field of asylum.Consistently apply international and national law and UNHCR policies and standards.Assist the office in providing legal counselling to persons of concern.Assist in the collection and analysis of relevant legal and protection information.Provide assistance in UNHCR's legal publications, in dissemination of legal information on refugee law, in UNHCR's legal website and other legal advice as needed.Support translation of legal and policy documents and act as interpreter at high-level meetings with the authorities when needed.Provide advice and support the office reviewing their contracts.Provide support on a wide range of corporate and institutional issues, including on the interpretation and application of UNHCR regulations, rules, policies and procedures within the local legislation context.Assist the office in providing legal counselling to personnel on various types of contractual arrangements.In close cooperation with the Protection team, assist UNHCR's drafting of law commentaries to draft national legislation related to refugee law, in compliance with UNHCR's positions and Guidelines.Support the Protection team in maintaining and strengthening relations with governmental, as well as non-governmental, actors in order to strengthen a network for assisting refugees and asylum seekers and also in strategically approach both national and local political figures.Prepare drafts for office correspondence concerning protection issues.Monitor/make briefing on legislative/judicial developments for the purpose of preparing office responses and/or to feed into briefing kits for external visitors.Support the implementation of activities with various institutions and civil society partners.Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).Perform other related duties as required.Minimum Qualifications Years of Experience / Degree Level: For G7 - 4 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 2 years relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher.
Field(s) of Education: Not applicable.
Certificates and/or Licenses: Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Law, Political Science (Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Relevant Job Experience
Essential: Experience in dealing with authorities as well as within a multicultural environment.
Desirable: Good knowledge of UNHCR's protection mandate. Work experience in human rights issues and/or refugee law is an asset.
Functional Skills CO-Drafting and Documentation, IT-Computer Literacy, 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.
Desired Candidate Profile UNHCR advocates for the adoption of a refugee legislation and an IDP law. Therefore, exposure to work on policy and legislative development is essential.Prior litigation experience within the domestic context on civil, administrative, and special procedures cases (such as naturalization cases) is preferred.Experience working with the Government, UN agencies or any development or humanitarian organizations is desired.Operational context Occupational Safety and Health Considerations: To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel
Nature of Position: The Philippines is a State Party to the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 Statelessness Convention and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It is also a party to eight out of nine core international human rights instruments. UNHCR in the Philippines provides technical support and plays a supervisory role in ensuring that the State upholds its commitments under relevant international Conventions. The Philippines has established an interagency coordinating platform for the protection needs of the forcibly displaced and stateless persons.
Living and Working Conditions: Additional Qualifications Skills CO-Drafting and Documentation, IT-Computer Literacy, LE-Legal Research
Education Certifications Human Rights - Other, International Law - Other, Law - Other, Political Science - Other
Work Experience Competencies Accountability, Analytical thinking, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Managing performance, Organizational awareness, Planning & organizing, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration
UNHCR Salary Calculator https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales
CompendiumAdditional Information Functional clearanceThis position doesn't require a functional clearance
Welcome to UNHCR's new recruitment platformPlease note that applications are only accepted via the UNHCR online recruitment platform. CVs and/or application requests sent via email will not be answered, reviewed nor considered. For external applicants: We would like to call your attention on the eligibility of International Professional (P) category: According to our Recruitment and Assignments Policy, P staff members will not normally serve in the country of their nationality.In case of technical difficulties when applying, external applicants (not current UNHCR workforce members) can write to ******** .Former UNHCR employees who are on mandatory break-in service or have separated from UNHCR after 1 October 2022 should create an account through this platform.DiversityThe UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
About UsUNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, takes the lead in protecting people forced to flee wars and persecution around the world, providing life-saving aid including shelter, food and water to ensure their basic safety, rights and dignity. With 18,879 women and men working in 137 countries, we work tirelessly to make a difference in the lives of 89.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide.
Why a career with UNHCR?
Our dedicated staff work to protect and assist people fleeing conflict and persecution at a time when global forced displacement is at a record high. Our colleagues bring a wide range of specialized skills, including expertise in legal protection, administration, community services, public affairs, health and other disciplines.
Disability inclusion
If you are a person with a disability and you expect you may face challenges during the recruitment process, you can indicate it in your application form. Adjustments for candidates with disabilities will be provided as best as possible and as needed upon request.
All candidates will be assessed based on meeting the requirements for each vacancy in relation to experience, skills, and education.

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