Senior Regional Asylum/Migration Policy Officer, P4

The Senior Regional Asylum/Migration Officer is responsible for ensuring UNHCR’s engagement in the asylum-migration discourse in the region for which he/she is responsible insofar as it impacts on UNHCR’s mandate to protect refugees, stateless persons and other persons of concern. He/she is expected to significantly contribute towards fundamentally shifting protection space in the region from currently restrictive policies to long-term expansion of protection and solutions in countries concerned. UNHCR’s interest in this area is threefold: firstly, to address the protection challenges arising out of the intersection between refugee protection and international migration; secondly, to ensure that migration policies and practices do not jeopardize access to asylum; and thirdly, to ensure that efforts to find protection and solutions for refugees are built on a thorough understanding of the dynamics of international migration and the migration policies of States, regional bodies and international organizations.

The incumbent is accountable for advising and providing technical support to the Regional Coordinator's Office and offices in the region and at Headquarters on asylum/migration issues affecting the region, and for significantly contributing to the development of regional migration strategies that are 1) protection-sensitive (i.e. comply with applicable international and regional human rights, refugee and statelessness law standards, age, gender and diversity- standards and for ensuring that refugees, asylum-seekers and other persons with specific protection needs are identified and their needs properly addressed) ; 2) comprehensive (i.e. address all aspects of migratory movements and use regular migration settings and opportunities to enhance the protection of persons of concern to UNHCR); and 3) cooperative (i.e. built on transnational, regional and international cooperation, solidarity and responsibility sharing and are supported by joint inter-agency approaches). The incumbent is also accountable for representing UNHCR as appropriate in external meetings with partners and regional fora in the area of coverage.

The incumbent coordinates with relevant protection staff at the regional and national levels, as well as with relevant counterparts and other partners to ensure that protection considerations are incorporated into national and regional migration strategies. The incumbent is expected to work with limited supervision and can occasionally supervise interns who could be recruited.

Within its functional responsibilities this post covers East Asia, the Pacific, South East Asia and South Asia, including the following countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau SARs), Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Soloman Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.