Researcher on the Balkans and Eastern Europe

Human Rights Watch

Berlin/Budapest, Multiple Countries

Deadline for Applications: September 31, 2011
Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) is seeking highly-qualified applicants for the position of Researcher on the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Description:

The Researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division will be responsible for developing and implementing a research and advocacy agenda on the Western Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo) and EU member states in Eastern Europe (particularly Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). The primary objective will be to curb human rights violations in the region through, among other things: conducting timely fact-finding missions on issues of acute or pressing concern; writing quick, concise and accurate reports, briefing papers, letters, news releases, and op-eds; the effective and timely marketing of those written products and Human Rights Watch’s agenda to the media; developing and implementing strategies to change abusive laws, policies, and practices, in close collaboration with colleagues inside Human Rights Watch and with international and national NGO partners; advocating effectively for human rights change with government officials in the region, with other EU member states, in Brussels, Washington, DC, and elsewhere; working closely with partner NGOs across the region to ensure that HRW’s efforts reinforce their agenda; monitoring and responding to critical legislative and/or policy developments, including at European Union level; and liaising with relevant regional organizations, particularly the European Union and Council of Europe.

Qualifications:

The ideal candidate will have at least five years of directly-related experience working on the countries of the Western Balkans and/or EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe, including significant time spent living and working in the region. An advanced (graduate) degree and practice in journalism, law, international relations or social sciences is strongly preferred. Solid field research and documentation skills are essential. Expertise in building and maintaining NGO networks and working in coalition with other organizations is highly desirable. Fluency in both written and spoken English, as well as familiarity with international human rights law, is required. Thematic expertise in anti-discrimination is highly desirable and expertise with migration and asylum and/or documenting abuses in closed institutions is desirable. Fluent written and spoken Bosnia/Serbian/Croatian is preferred and German and other relevant regional languages are desirable.

The Researcher must be able to identify, research, analyze and effectively communicate important human rights developments in a timely and sophisticated fashion, setting priorities in consultation with other Human Rights Watch staff. The Researcher must be an agile and productive writer and dynamic speaker with accurate, analytically sophisticated, and persuasive oral and written communications skills. S/he must be able to think strategically about international and local media environments and how to use the media (including electronic and social media) to further advocacy goals, maintaining regular contact with key local, national and international media contacts relevant to the researcher’s issues. He or she must be able to develop and implement realistic and effective local and international advocacy strategies and tactics in order to identify and seize advocacy opportunities and thus insert HRW’s position into public debate. Creativity, initiative, perseverance, and flexibility are required while maintaining HRW’s high methodological standards.

The Researcher must be able to travel in the region for two or more weeks at a time, four to six times a year. The researcher will preferably be based in Budapest or in HRW’s Berlin office, although location in other HRW offices in Europe may be considered. The incoming Researcher must be prepared to spend significant periods of time in HRW’s London, Berlin and/or New York offices, particularly in the first year of employment for purposes of orientation, integration into the organization, and training, and thereafter for regular consultation.

Salary and Benefits:

HRW seeks exceptional applicants and offers competitive compensation and generous employer-paid benefits. HRW will pay reasonable relocation expenses and will assist employees in obtaining necessary work authorization, if required; citizens of all nationalities are encouraged to apply.

PLEASE APPLY IMMEDIATELY (no calls or email inquiries, please) by emailing in a single submission: a letter of interest describing your experience, your resume, names or letters of reference, salary requirements, and a brief writing sample (unedited by others) no later than September 31, 2011 to ecajobs@hrw.org. Please use “Researcher Ref ECA-11-1048-F” as the subject of your email. If emailing is not possible, send materials (please do not split a submission between email and regular post) to:

Human Rights Watch
Attn: Researcher Search (Researcher Ref ECA-11-1048-F)
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
Fax: (212) 736-1300

Human Rights Watch is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices and, in order to build the strongest possible workforce, actively seeks a diverse applicant pool.

Human Rights Watch is an international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions.

Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Europe and Central Asia division (then known as Helsinki Watch). Its primary goal was to monitor the implementation of human rights provisions established by the Helsinki Accords within the Soviet Union. Today, the division's work has expanded well beyond monitoring the Helsinki provisions to include gathering detailed information on human rights abuses throughout Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In addition to publishing reliable and comprehensive reports, the ECA division effects change through advocacy. The ECA holds accountable not only governments who abuse internationally recognized human rights, but also those who support abusive governments. The ECA division seeks to expand the implementation of human rights law in all of Europe and Central Asia.