Intern, Rule of Law Unit OSCE

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Warsaw, Poland

Background

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the OSCE responsible for the human dimension. ODIHR is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the rule of law.
The ODIHR Rule of Law Unit of the Democratization Department has defined its 2012 programmes’ strategic objectives as follows:

• to assist the participating States in developing legislation and policies to meet their OSCE human dimension commitments on the rule of law;
• to assist the legal community and other stakeholders in facilitating implementation of the OSCE human dimension commitments on the rule of law.

The Rule of Law Unit comprises several thematic portfolios, including on trial monitoring, criminal justice, judicial independence, and electoral dispute resolution.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Objective:

The selected intern will be an integral member of the Rule of Law Unit and perform under the supervision of the Chief Rule of Law Unit.

S/he will:

• gain an understanding of the conceptual and normative framework for international and OSCE support to participating States in the field of rule of law;
• learn about justice system related challenges of countries in Central Asia, the South Caucasus and South-Eastern Europe;
• learn about rule of law related aspects of administrative justice, election dispute resolutions systems, standards and good practices in the OSCE area;
• become acquainted with methodology and approaches used in designing, developing and implementing programmes and projects in support of trial monitoring operations as well as programmes related to assessing judicial independence;
• develop his/her professional writing and communication skills, and apply his/her research and analytical skills.

Tasks:

In the area of the Independence of the Judiciary the intern shall assist Rule of Law staff for about 30% of the time by:

• Conducting research related to programmes of OSCE field operations and other international actors related to judicial independence and its assessment and promotion;
• Conducting research in order to identify examples of practices in participating States that are identical or similar to what is proposed in the Kyiv Recommendations on Judicial Independence in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia (‘illustrative examples of practice from participating States’);
• Supporting the substantive preparation and organization of activities to promote judicial independence in participating States.

In the area of trial monitoring, the intern shall assist Rule of Law staff for about 40% of the time by:

• Assisting with the organization of training events on trial monitoring;
• Assisting with the organization of the annual trial monitoring meeting, including by supporting the unit with substantive and administrative preparatory work, minute taking and the draft of the provisional report of the event.

In the area of Administrative Justice and EDR, the intern shall assist Rule of Law staff for about 30% of the time by:

• Assisting the piloting of the Handbook for Monitoring Administrative Justice in selected field operations, compiling reports from monitors, and drafting suggestions for inclusion in the final text;
• Assisting in research and edition of final text of the Handbook;
• Compiling current commitments, obligations and standards on judiciary related aspects of EDR for the OSCE area;
• Extracting examples of best practices and remaining challenges in the area of EDR from existing documentation from relevant actors, with specific focus on Venice Commission, CoE and UN material.

Necessary Qualifications

• University Degree in Law;
• Knowledge of international and OSCE human rights law, rule of law and fair trial standards;
• Excellent knowledge of English;
• Computer literacy;
• Excellent writing and presentation skills;
• Ability to work as part of a team along with ability to work under minimum supervision;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Flexibility to carry out different tasks as required.

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