Consultancy: To Support the development of General Comment 27 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Children’s Access to Justice, Consultant – Req.#569977

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, hope.

Under the supervision of UNICEF and of the Coordinator of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Working Group on Access to Justice, and in close consultation with the other members of the Working Group and the CRC Committee Secretariat (OHCHR), the consultant will draft the General Comment on Access to Justice and act as a resource person throughout the process, as detailed below.

Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: To Support the development of General Comment 27 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Children’s Access to Justice, Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Human Rights Unit, Programme Group Leadership Team – Programme Group, NYHQ

Duration: 15 March 2024 – 30 June 2025/ REMOTE

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection, and development. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations, and governments.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Being able to seek and obtain remedy when one’s rights are violated is both a right and a means to enforce rights put forth in international, regional and national standards.  The right to remedy is what makes a right a right (as opposed to a favor or privilege) and being able to exercise such right is inherent to the status of rights holder.

Accessing justice can, inter alia, oblige States to put an end to violence; help children and families living in poverty to obtain or restore entitlements such as social benefits that have been denied; can help minority children or children with disabilities and their families to challenge decisions excluding them from schools; can help children and families to challenge a decision to withdraw parental rights and/or place the child in care – and much more.

Access to justice is also an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (16.3) as it has an important role to play in combating inequalities, challenging discriminatory practices and restoring entitlements that have been denied.

Yet, while millions of children have their rights violated every day, only a fraction come forward to seek redress and even fewer obtain an effective remedy. The right to access justice – while being generally recognized for adults – still seems, in the minds of many, including children themselves, inconceivable or unacceptable when it comes to children. This is true for all children but is exacerbated for a child with a disability, an indigenous or a minority child, a child in detention or deprived of parental care – to name just a few of the most excluded children. 

In order to guide States Parties on how to overcome these challenges and fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Rights of the Child has decided to develop a General Comment on children’s access to justice. UNICEF will support the Committee in this respect, including by hiring a consultant to draft the document.

Purpose

Under the supervision of UNICEF and of the Coordinator of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Working Group on Access to Justice, and in close consultation with the other members of the Working Group and the CRC Committee Secretariat (OHCHR), the consultant will draft the General Comment on Access to Justice and act as a resource person throughout the process, as detailed below. 

Scope of Work:

Phase 1:

1. Map existing relevant resources and carry out a desk review.
2. Conduct informal consultation calls with key experts, identified together with the CRC Working Group, UNICEF and other actors.
3. Prepare an outline of the General Comment for consideration by the CRC Working Group. Discuss the outline in a working meeting with the Committee.
4. Develop the content of the call for submissions for States, independent human rights institutions, academia, UN, civil society, children and other actors.
5. Participate in the preparation of an expert meeting and attend the meeting.
6. Develop a zero draft of the General Comment, based on the agreed outline.
7. Oversee the organization of (and, if possible, participate in) at least five regional consultations with governments, justice providers and other relevant professionals, civil society, independent human rights institutions, UN, academia and others; prepare the programme of the consultations in cooperation with the CRC WG, UNICEF and other actors; and collate the relevant outcomes based on the reports of these consultations.
8. Participate in the OPIC@10 conference (Leiden, April 2024) (TBC).
9. Prepare a first draft of the General Comment, based on the inputs provided by the CRC Working Group, the written submissions received from external stakeholders, the consultations with children as well as the outcomes of the regional consultations.

Phase 2: 

10. Develop a second draft of the GC based on inputs from the Committee and revise it based on inputs of selected external stakeholders, for tabling by the Committee.

Phase 1 and 2:  

11. Participate in coordination and planning meetings.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

Phase 1

• Outline, draft call for submissions and agenda and list of participants for expert meeting.

30 April 2024

• Zero draft General Comment.

31 July 2024

• First Draft General Comment

30 November 2024

Phase 2

• Second Draft General Comment

                30 June 2025

NOTE:  The timeline as indicated above may have to be adapted throughout the process to align with the pace of discussions within the Committee on the Rights of the Child.  Timelines will continuously be reassessed, and some flexibility will be required from the selected consultant.              

Possible Travel (All trips below have yet to be confirmed):

– 1 Trip for 3-4 days to Leiden (the Netherlands) foreseen in April 2024.

– 1 Trip for 3-4 days to Geneva (Switzerland) foreseen during the duration of this contract.

– 5 Trips for Regional Consultations; however, online/remote participation may take place for one or more of these events.

Qualifications

1) Education

• Advanced University degree in law, Human Rights, Social Sciences or a related technical field.

2) Work experience

• Minimum 15 years of work experience in human rights, child rights and access to justice, including at the international level.
• Experience in providing guidance to States on their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Familiarity with the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child or other UN Treaty Bodies.

3) Competencies

• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English.
• Strong analytical skills—especially in relation to UN/CRC Committee style and language appropriate for use in a General Comment.
• Ability to incorporate inputs from a consultative process with a wide range of stakeholders—including children.
• Ability to keep strict deadlines.
• Available for the specified duration period.

Requirements: 

• Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and provided copy of academic credentials
• Technical proposal with a methodology for deliverables and timelines
• Financial proposal that will include:
• Cost per deliverable or lumpsum for the whole deliverables as indicated in the terms of reference
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent/unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have current health insurance coverage in place.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.