UNDP Jobs - 13628- Consultant

Consultant

Location :

Home

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Dec-2009

Application Deadline :

04-Dec-09 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

50 days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Protecting and promoting the rights of people affected by HIV and marginalized populations is the cornerstone of effective AIDS, public health and development responses. UNDP supports countries to create an enabling human rights environment, promote gender equality, and address the HIV-related vulnerabilities and needs of women and girls. UNDP also works to respond to HIV among men who have sex with men and transgender populations, and supports legal frameworks including enabling trade and intellectual property legislation for improved access to affordable essential medicines and commodities.

As the lead agency on human rights and law within the Joint UN Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), UNDP plays a key role in coordinating and convening of the UNAIDS Secretariat and its Cosponsors on issues of human rights and HIV. UNDP also plays a key role in developing and disseminating guidance on promoting an enabling legal environment for and protecting the rights of people living with HIV and marginalised communities. Recently, a number of UNAIDS priorities in the area of human rights and HIV have emerged. As the lead agency on issues of human rights and HIV, this will mean that UNDP, in addition to its existing work plans, will lead action on the following: development of guidance documents for countries on creating enabling legal environments for people living with HIV and marginalised populations and stigma reduction, developing robust business plans to expand UNAIDS action on the removal of punitive laws, policies and practices which are blocking effective AIDS responses, establishing a commission/task team to develop policy guidance on the removal of punitive laws which are blocking effective AIDS responses.

UNDP’s HIV/AIDS practice is recruiting a consultant to provide to support to the HIV/AIDS cluster on Human Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity, particularly in delivering on: a legal resource containing a compilation and analysis of jurisprudence (of national high courts and international judicial fora) and statutory law (national or provincial/ state), which address the issue of criminalisation of HIV transmission.

Duties and Responsibilities

Compile judgments of national level courts and international judicial fora (available in English), which have addressed the issue of criminalization of HIV transmission, synopsise the same and provide an analysis of these judgments in order to highlight rights-based precedents and inform on trends, impact and implications for HIV programming and policy; and
Compile statutory laws (available in English), which have addressed the issue of criminalization of HIV transmission, synopsise the same and provide an analysis of these laws in order to highlight rights-based precedents and inform on trends, impact and implications for HIV programming and policy; and
Provide any other research and writing assistance and support to UNDP’s HIV and human rights work as requested by the cluster leader.

Competencies

A clearly demonstrated knowledge of law, human rights and HIV;
An ability to manage concurrent tasks and competing interests;
Proven analytical, organizational and communication skills; and
Excellent writing skills.

Required Skills and Experience

A degree in law;
5-10 years of relevant work experience in the area of human rights, law and HIV, with work experience at country level;
Experience in compiling and analyzing judgments and statutory law;
Fluency in English is required.