Transitional Justice Specialist

The excavation, identification and reburial of individuals killed and “disappeared” during the recent conflict and under the previous regime is one of the most urgent challenges facing the Libyan state. Addressing the file of missing persons, recovering the truth about the fate of the disappeared through a fair, transparent and scientific truth-seeking process, will deeply contribute to national reconciliation and form a cornerstone of any transitional justice process in Libya. Grievances related to missing persons are also at the heart of local dialogues and reconciliation efforts in various areas.

In that context, UNDP and UNSMIL HRS designed a project to address the issue of missing persons in Libya by achieving the two main expected impacts : 1) Victims and their families are better equipped to engage in national and international transitional justice initiatives, and to seek justice and security services, and 2) Security and justice sector actors are better equipped to make security and justice institutions more responsive, accountable, and better able to prevent gross human rights violations, in particular enforced disappearances.

To achieve these goals, UNSMIL HRS and the UNDP Strengthening the Rule of Law and Justice in Libya Project (Project Team) will build and expand upon their experience in human rights violations monitoring, providing technical assistance to justice and security institutions, and connecting CSOs and victims’ associations from all three regions of Libya, to address the deep, societal effects of prolonged enforced disappearances on families and communities, and design community-led initiatives laying the groundwork for memorialization, truth-telling, and healing for families of victim including through developing one-stop centres for victims and families of missing persons searching for their loved ones, while also empowering these stakeholders to actively and safely advocate for truth and accountability at the national and international levels.

In this context, UNDP is seeking to recruit a Transitional Justice Specialist, working directly within UNSMIL Human Rights Service and under the Chief of HRS, to co-lead project implementation together with UNDP, Libyan national partners, as well as with relevant civil society organizations, and in close coordination with other relevant UN organizations implementing complementary interventions. 

The position will be under UNDP Libya Country Office and based in Tunis, Tunisia, with significant time spent in Tripoli, Libya.

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Head of the Human Rights, Rule of Law and Transitional Justice (HRS) Service of UNSMIL, and in close cooperation with the UNDP Rule of Law Project Manager, the Transitional Justice (TJ) Specialist is responsible for providing technical and operational support to the design, implementation and monitoring and reporting of all project activities. The position holder is also expected to assist in the interface between UNSMIL, UNDP and its implementing partners in the targeted regions, most notably justice, human rights and security institutions. The Specialist would also be required to support the conduct of the requisite analytical, political and legal situational assessment to inform program design and understand trends and patterns that impact on the project. He/she provides policy and technical advisory services to regional government counterparts as well as UNDP.

The TJ Specialist is expected to work independently, with minimal supervision but in close collaboration with the project Team in Libya, and to actively engage with government and civil society partners and other actors. The successful candidate will have the following specific responsibilities:

1. Implementation of the Project “Addressing the File of Missing Persons in Libya” based on international standards and best practices on transitional justice, truth-seeking, accountability, and missing persons in particular.

• Conduct thorough analysis and research of the political and governance situation in Libya on a continuous basis with a particular focus of areas that have impacts on the project implementation,
• Regularly monitor and analyze project activities based on established work plan, and suggest timely readjustments in portfolio as and when necessary, and ensure all the activities identified in the approved work plan are delivered within identified timelines,
• Lead consultations and engagement with national stakeholders for the implementation of all project activities, including with the project’s technical committee, civil society organizations and families of missing persons,
• Develop concept notes, reports, and ToRs for all project activities based on prior needs assessment and context analysis as well as international standards and UN Guidance on transitional justice,
• Coordinate project implementation with implementing partners according to agreed-upon priorities, Annual Work Plans, and available resources,
• Support the administrative and financial follow-up of the implementation of the plans, activities and budgets of the project, in accordance with UNDP implementation policies,
• Ensure substantive monitoring of project’s activities, analysis of the project environment, and identify operational and financial challenges and propose timely adjustments and/solutions,
• Conduct regular field monitoring visits, reporting back on findings and recommendations, follow-up to ensure timely implementation of the recommendations to build the capacity of the implementing partners,
• Compile project progress reports, distilling lessons learnt, and contribute to reporting requirements,
• Ensure adherence of project activities to UN human rights “do no harms”, inclusion, transparency and due diligence policies, and providing risk mitigation measure where necessary,
• Forge close and practical working relationships with the humanitarian cluster system to ensure that HDP nexus issues are addressed on the ground,
• Ensure that approaches to gender equality are integrated into all aspects of planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation,
• Ensure synergies with/between other project components of the Project, to strengthen the achievement of project outcomes.

2. Provision of high quality technical expertise on addressing the file of missing persons as part of transitional justice efforts in Libya

• Provide technical assistance for the implementation of the activities, enabling high quality delivery of outputs and activity results as per the agreement with the donor, Proposal, project document and/or Project Board decisions,
• Assess capacity-building needs in partner institutions and help develop well-structured and sustainable plans for addressing them,
• Build strong and trusted relationship with institutional counterparts, as well as with target communities (families of missing persons and civil society),
• Keep abreast of policy and legal changes that can affect project implementation,
• Develop concept papers, briefing notes, issues papers and analytical pieces to inform programming,
• Identify sources of information related to policy-driven issues,
• Identify appropriate government and civil society partners, proposes appropriate contractual arrangements and monitors their implementation,
• Coordinate the finalization of detailed results framework with a focus on agreed indicators and targets in close consultation with the project team and the donor,
• Identify and synthetize best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to project objectives and priorities,
• Perform other activities as assigned by the Team Leader and/or the project manager.

3. Facilitation of knowledge building and management, effective communication, awareness raising of the project activities and building partnerships

• Provide sound contribution to knowledge building, networks and communities of practice including with other countries of the MENA region with similar experiences,
• Ensure systematic recording of best practices and lessons learnt from project implementation in the area of missing persons and transitional justice,
• Provide technical support to the Head of UNSMIL HRS and UNDP Rule of Law project manager and implementing team to analyze results and lessons learnt and best practices in project implementation and participate actively in relevant communities of practice, especially in the MENA region and in relation to transitional justice,
• Contribute to project communications and visibility efforts including the development of a range of core communication content including reports, briefings, infographics, case studies and presentations.

4. Institutional Arrangement

The Transitional Justice Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Head of UNSMIL HRS, with technical support from the UNDP Rule of Law Project Manager. On the contractual and administrative level, he/she will be managed by UNDP and is bound by all UNDP Human Resources policies. He/She must adhere to all ongoing UNDP corporate rules and regulations, including SOPs and internal procedure policies applicable to UNDP Libya personnel working within the country office.