Human Rights Officer OSCE

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Warsaw, Poland

Job ID: VNODIS00377

Background

This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to assignment at ODIHR must be borne by their authorities.

Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 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.
In accordance with the mandate of ODIHR, the Human Rights Department (HRD) assists participating States in fulfilling their obligations to protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms. Areas of work covered by the Department include monitoring and analysis of human rights developments in the OSCE area and the provision of expertise and technical assistance to enhance compliance with human dimension commitments; supporting the development of effective human rights education and capacity building; addressing the relationship between human rights, gender and the security sector; emphasizing human rights aspects of combating trafficking in human beings; and enhancing the protection of human rights while countering terrorism.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Adviser on Anti-Terrorism Issues, the incumbent will be tasked with:

• Monitoring and analysing national anti-terrorism legislation and practices and country-specific developments with regard to factors that may violate human rights or engender terrorism or relate to the prevention of terrorism;
• Assisting in the provision of advice and recommendations, and preparing general and issue-specific reports and/or other background materials on incidents, priority issues and situations related to human rights in the prevention and combating of terrorism for ODIHR management;
• Assisting with identifying, developing and implementing programmatic activities and projects, including training on key human rights issues arising in the anti-terrorism context for/with non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, governmental authorities and OSCE staff and field operations;
• Responding to requests to ODIHR for information about the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments in preventing and countering terrorism;
• Building alliances and networks with independent experts, international and national governmental and non-governmental actors to develop regional collaboration to share best practices and build capacity, exchange information, co-ordinate activities and implement common programmes;
• Performing other related duties as assigned.

Necessary Qualifications

• University degree in law, preferably with a specialization in human rights;
• At least four years of relevant professional experience in the field of human rights and/or criminal justice, including experience at the international level;
• Excellent knowledge of UN and Council of Europe human rights standards and OSCE human dimension commitments;
• Experience in designing and implementing projects; in delivering presentations at conferences; 
• Ability and experience in providing training would be an asset;
• Familiarity with capacity building initiatives in the criminal justice, police and/or security sectors or working knowledge of international legal standards as applied in terrorism, war crimes or serious organised crime cases would be an asset;
• Computer literate with practical experience in Microsoft applications;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; 
• Knowledge of other OSCE working languages, in particular Russian would be an asset;
• Ability to work with people of different nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability and willingness to deploy to the field, sometimes on short notice, for different types of monitoring missions.

This post is open for secondment only. Candidates are requested to apply through the OSCE desk of the respective Ministry for Foreign Affairs several days prior to deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of the application. Delayed nominations will not be considered.
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