Protection Officer

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Description

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• Provide technical guidance and support to UNHCR and partners on all protection related issues.
• Stay abreast of and report as relevant on legal political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
• Engage relevant national authorities and structures in identifying and expanding opportunities in view of developing or strengthening national asylum/RSD systems.
• Facilitate a consultative process with government counterparts, partners and persons of concern to develop and implement a comprehensive protection and solutions strategy addressing the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, persons of diverse sexual orientation and/or gender identities (LGBTI persons), persons living with HIV/AIDS; gender equality and Gender Based Violence (GBV) priorities with regard to these persons.
• In operations applying the Cluster Approach, seek to ensure the response of the Protection Cluster is grounded in a strategy which covers all assessed and prioritized protection needs of the affected populations.
• Support senior management to ensure the protection strategy is fully integrated into the Country Operations Plan, the UN Development and Assistance Framework (UNDAF), the Humanitarian Country Team’s common humanitarian response plan where applicable, as well as with the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Three Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.
• Promote relevant International, Regional and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct and ensure that all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations fulfil their responsibilities in mainstreaming protection.
• Promote the implementation of the AGD policy, including UNHCR’s updated commitments to women and girls, and, design, deliver I and monitor programmes on an AGD basis to address identified protection needs.
• Develop, implement and monitor community-based protection strategies and ensure systematic application and integration of participatory and community-based approaches in protection and solutions planning, programming and strategies.
• Support the establishment of feedback and response systems and the incorporation of feedback received from persons of concern into programme design and adaptation.
• Support the operation to develop and implement robust prevention, identification, and responses to fraud within protection processes and procedures, including registration, RSD, resettlement and complementary pathways, ensuring the integrity of interventions across all protection activities.
• Assist UNHCR management at country level to comply with polices and commitment on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse measures.
• Oversee and manage individual protection cases including those on GBV and child protection.
• Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to internal and external interlocutors; ensure legal assistance is accessible to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documents to persons of concern (including women and others in need of civil documentation, in particular birth certificates).
• As designated Data Protection Focal Point, assist the data controller in carrying out his or her responsibilities regarding the Data Protection Policy (7.2 DPP).
• Oversee and undertake eligibility and status determination within the AoR ensuring compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
• Promote and implement effective strategies and measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness within the AoR.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of an education plan as part of protection strategy within the AoR as relevant.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of a child protection plan as part of the protection strategy within the AoR ensuring programmes use a child protection systems approach.
• Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
• Work to safeguard the rights of persons of concern in the context of mixed movements as relevant.
• Coordinate the preparation of, implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
• Ensure that durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement and complementary pathways are sought and provided to the largest possible number of persons of concern, including undertaking and/or overseeing resettlement and complementary pathways activities.
• Contribute to the coordination of the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related programming with implementing and operational partners.
• Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
• Ensure that the Protection Sector or Cluster has an effective information management component which: provides disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems; researches, collects and disseminates relevant protection information and good practices to enhance protection delivery.
• Build the protection capacity of national and local government, partners and civil society to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis all persons of concern through protection training, mainstreaming and related activities.
• Coordinate capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
• Advise and capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and civil society to strengthen legislation and status determination procedures and mechanisms.
• 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.
• Support the Regional Bureau and Country Operations to reflect the protection and solution angle in support of persons of concern within regional processes.
• Support Country Operations in the development of strategies to build and further develop national asylum/RSD systems with a view to ensuring their fairness, efficiency, adaptability and integrity, favourable protection environment and solutions.
• Assist UNHCR management at regional and country level to comply with polices and commitment on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse measures.
• Support Country Operations and ensure they meet their complementary pathways objectives and resettlement quotas.
• In close collaboration with DIP, (a) contribute to the development of background and general normative, policy, and legal positions, in compliance with UNHCR’s global protection policies and standards; (b) contribute to the development of strategies at the regional and country level on the usage of law and policy approaches, including legislative and judicial engagement and UN human rights mechanisms – and/or regional ones – and other protection frameworks, and integrated human rights standards in protection strategies and advocacy; and (c) support coordination and review of UNHCR’s country reports to the UN human rights mechanisms.
• Engage in relevant international and regional fora and contribute to forging regional partnerships to advocate for key protection and mandate issues, and engage in cross-cutting protection-related matters, including mixed movement, internal displacement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses, as well as Statelessness, in cooperation with DIP and where relevant RSD.

• 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

• Law; International Law; International Refugee Law;
• International Human Rights Law; International Humanitarian Law;
• Refugee and Forced Migration Studies; Political Sciences
• or other relevant field.

• Protection Learning Programme
• RSD- Resettlement Learning Programme

• Minimum 4 years of relevant professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law, including experience in working directly with Field Offices. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles. Excellent legal research, analytical skills and drafting.

• PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
• PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
• PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
• PR-International Humanitarian Law
• PR-Comprehensive Solutions Framework
• LE-Judicial Engagement
• PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation
• PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
• PR-Accountability to Affected People – Principles and Framework
• PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination

• 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.

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