Legal Officer (P-3)

Post Level	P-3	Closing Date	3 December 2012 (11 days left)
Vacancy Ref	E-ICA/IPB/LO/F0706/P-3/44/11-12	This appointment is for a three-year duration with a six-month probationary period. The OPCW is a non-career organisation with limited staff tenure. The total length of service for Professional staff shall not exceed 7 years. The Director-General retains the discretion not to make any appointment to this vacancy, to make an appointment at a lower grade, or to make an appointment with a modified job description. This post is pending the 2013 Programme and Budget approval.
Branch	Implementation Support Branch
Division	International Cooperation and Assistance Division
Date	13 November 2012
Principal Functions		Requirements
Reporting to the Head, Implementation Support, the incumbent will provide legal support to the OPCW in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and to Member States: 1. Provide legal support and advice to ensure that Member States realise their obligations regarding peaceful use of Chemistry through economic and technological development under Article XI, and the full and effective national implementation under Article VII of the CWC; 2. Review draft legislation submitted to ensure that they are aligned to the CWC and other legal instruments; 3. Provide advice to National Authorities/legislators in Member States on CWC obligations and different legislative approaches; 4. Research and analyse chemical industry reports and other policy related reports including the inspection reports and identify the latest trends emerging issues in chemical industry that require to be addressed with legislation; 5. Formulate and develop new initiatives to assist States Parties with expediting legislation; 6. Develop and draft explanatory documents and guidelines as required for technical assistance visits; 7. Contribute to the preparation of technical assistance material related to CWC agreements. Conduct technical legal assistance including teaching and training and offering ad hoc and demand driven advice to benefit Member States; 8. Participate in the intergovernmental consensus-building aspect of the work of the division on issues pertaining to legal aspects of chemical weapon prohibition under the Convention in accordance with the provision of the relevant articles; 9. Advocate OPCW’s position in the international arena, including participating in various in various expert fora, symposiums and seminars organised by OPCW and other various institutions; 10. Perform other duties as required.		Knowledge and Skills
		• Advanced university degree in Law, preferably with specialisation in International Law or Administrative Law, in addition to a first degree in Law; • A qualification in Diplomacy and External Relations is desirable; • Knowledge of the drafting of legal documents and agreements is required; • Excellent communication skills – both written and oral; good negotiation skills; • Strong analytical skills and ability to conduct legal research; • A well developed sense of judgement; • Ability to plan and organise, and to work under pressure of time and urgent deadlines; • Flexibility and problem solving skills; • Tact and discretion; • Ability to work in a team and to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
		Experience
		• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in international organisations and/or government service, in the areas of International Law, Disarmament or Administrative Law.
		Languages
		Fluency in English is essential and a good working knowledge of one of the other official languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) is desirable.
Total annual salary consists of a net annual salary (net of taxes and before medical insurance and provident fund deductions) in US$ and a post adjustment. The post adjustment (cost of living allowance) is variable and subject to change without notice in accordance with the rates as set within the UN Common System for salaries and allowances. The figure quoted on the right, is based on the November 2012 rate of 51.3%.		With Dependants No Dependants Annual Salary (USD) $60,091 $56,091 Post Adjustment $30,827 $28,775 Total Salary $90,918 $84,866 Currency USD
CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO USE ONLY THE ONLINE APPLICATION SYSTEM. Interested applicants who are unable to submit an application online at www.opcw.org , due to technical problems, are requested to send an e- mail to Recruitment@opcw.org explaining the problem. Only applications received before the closing date will be considered. Only applicants under serious consideration for a post will be contacted. Applications from qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged. There are job advertisements and offers that falsely state that they are from the OPCW. Please be aware that the OPCW does not request any payments or require any financial information (bank account details, credit card numbers) from you at any stage of the application and review process. If you are contacted with these requests, please contact Recruitment@opcw.org and notify us at once.