RESEARCHER ON CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

FULL-TIME JOB VACANCY
RESEARCHER
Children’s Rights Division
(New York, London, Washington, DC, Berlin, Brussels, or Paris office)
Application Deadline: January 15, 2014

Human Rights Watch (“HRW”) is seeking a Researcher with its Children’s Rights Division. The Researcher will be responsible for developing and implementing a research and advocacy agenda focusing on children’s right to education. The position reports to the Executive Director of the Children’s Rights Division.

Responsibilities:

1. Monitoring and documenting children’s rights abuses, with a focus on the right to education, by collecting and analyzing information from a wide variety of sources including governments, local media, NGOs, journalists, diplomats, education experts, and others in the field;

2. Conducting fact-finding missions;

3. Writing and publicizing reports, briefing papers, letters, news releases, op-eds, and submissions to international bodies based on research findings;

4. Developing and implementing innovative local, regional, and international advocacy strategies to protect and promote the right to education;

5. Responding promptly to queries from the media, public, and colleagues in the human rights and education communities;

6. Presenting children’s rights concerns to government officials, opinion leaders, inter-governmental agencies, and the media;

7. Working closely with colleague non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local organizations to ensure that HRW’s work complements and enhances their own work;

8. Liaising effectively with HRW staff located in multiple locations throughout the world to ensure effective coordination of activities;

9. Traveling domestically and internationally for three or more weeks at a time, at least several times a year; and

 10. Carrying out any other duties as required.

 Qualifications:

Education:  An advanced (graduate) degree in international relations, journalism, law, social sciences, or a related field is required.

Experience:  Minimum 5 years of directly-related experience working in the area of human rights reporting and advocacy. 

Related Skills and Knowledge: 

1. Ability to identify, research, analyze and effectively communicate important children’s rights developments in a timely and sophisticated fashion is required.

2. Ability to develop and implement realistic and effective local and international advocacy strategies and tactics in order to identify and seize advocacy opportunities is required.

3. Outstanding writing and editing skills, strong initiative and follow-through, the capacity to think creatively and strategically, and a dynamic public speaking ability are all required.

4.  Knowledge of and experience working in international human rights and familiarity with international human rights law is required.

5. Solid field research and documentation skills are required.

6. Strong interpersonal skills in order to work collaboratively within HRW as well as with local partners, government officials and external media partners, and the ability work quickly and effectively under pressure with a broad range of people and as part of a teamare required.

7.  Demonstrated ability to think strategically about the global and local media environments and how to use the media and electronic media to further advocacy goals is strongly desired.

8. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are essential; proficiency in another language is desirable.

Salary and Benefits:  HRW seeks exceptional applicants and offers competitive compensation and 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.

Contact: Please submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, salary requirements, a brief writing sample (unedited by others), and contact information for three references in a single email tocrdjobs@hrw.org.  Please use “Researcher Ref CRD-13-1054-A” as the subject of your email. 

Only complete applications will be reviewed and only qualified candidates will be contacted. No phone calls, please.

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.