UN WOMEN Jobs - 56957- UN Women: Gender Specialist / SGBV Investigator

UN Women: Gender Specialist / SGBV Investigator

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Tunis, TUNISIA

Type of Contract :

TA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

15-Jun-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-4

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months

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

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Peace and Security is a key area of UN Women's work. At headquarters, the Peace and Security Section leads on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace and Security, provides technical and financial support to the peace and security work of UN Women field offices, and implements a number of global initiatives that range from training women on mediation, peacekeepers on preventing and responding to sexual violence, and experts on investigation and documentation of international crimes, to rapidly deploying gender specialists to commissions of inquiry, peace talks, and post-conflict planning and financing processes, supporting gender-responsive public service delivery, and linking women in the community and grassroots organizations to police and other actors to ensure better protection.

A key area of UN-Women’s work is ensuring access to justice for women and the equal application of the rule of law. Effective judicial and legal systems not only ensure the protection and advancement of women’s rights, but can provide an enabling environment to address discriminatory practices which impede development. From a women’s human rights and rule of law perspective, at no time is legal protection more necessary, or more fragile, than during and in the immediate aftermath of conflicts when women’s experiences of insecurity and violations often continue unabated. Securing accountability and ending impunity for sexual and gender-based violence and asserting women’s access to the full range of rights are some of the most challenging yet fundamental conditions for the restoration of the rule of law post-conflict. In close collaboration with the head of the relevant international accountability mechanism and the Chief Advisor, Peace and Security, UN Women, the Gender Specialist/ SGBV Investigator will contribute to implementation of UN Women’s mandate on promoting women’s access to justice and the rule of law through providing technical support to international accountability mechanisms in training, documentation and investigation of human rights violations of women and the gendered impacts of human rights and international humanitarian law violations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Provide technical support to the work of international accountability bodies supported by UN-Women by ensuring that appropriate attention is given to women’s human rights violations and the gendered dimensions of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, including through gender analysis and training;
Liaise with international accountability bodies and UN Women;
Ensure proper documentation and investigation of human rights violations of women and the gendered impacts of human rights and international humanitarian law violations by international justice mechanisms.

Description of Functions:

Research and collect information pertaining to women’s human rights and gender issues directly related to the mandate of the international mechanism, as well as SGBV;
Analyze existing documentation and provide advice on gender-sensitive investigation methods for all aspects of the investigation’s mandate including interviewing, security arrangements, witness protection and safe handling of information, using available guidance on gender integration in the work of Commissions of Inquiry and Fact Finding Missions;
Ensure that all investigators are aware of the gendered dimensions of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, including sexual violence, women’s human rights and gender issues directly related to the mandate of the international mechanism and ensure that the gender-specific impact of all human rights violations is assessed;
Conduct interviews and information gathering activities, including SGBV, ensuring that necessary measures of protection and confidentiality for witnesses and victims are implemented throughout and that the gender-specific impact of violations is assessed;
Contribute to the drafting of the investigation outcome document and final report, incorporating a gender perspective and gender-sensitive language. This would include that the establishment of facts and qualification of violations reflect gender dimensions;
Undertake all activities in compliance with relevant standards and methods of work, including on safe handling of information;
Document investigative work on gender in relevant databases, including information on incidents and all interviews;
Make recommendations including, in particular, on accountability measures and participate in the lessons learned exercise at the end of the Team’s work;
Prepare an internal report for UN Women at the conclusion of the deployment reflecting on the work of the gender adviser and any recommendations for strengthening the gendered work of such bodies in future;
Perform any other duties, as required by the Chief, Peace and Security, UN Women.

Impact of Results

The appropriate investigation procedures of all international accountability mechanisms UN Women supports will reflect good practice in the investigation of SGBV cases, gender-sensitive approaches; full documentation of violations of women’s rights under international humanitarian and human rights law; and advance women’s access to justice.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity:

Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Work in teams:

Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

Demonstrate informed and transparent decision-making.

Functional Competencies:

Proven ability to conduct complex human rights investigations, including expertise in monitoring and documenting human rights violations of women including SGBV and the gendered impacts of human rights and international humanitarian law violations, and understanding of gender-specific protection concerns;
Expertise in women’s human rights and gender dimension of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights and sexual and gender-based violence;
Good analytical capacity; solid knowledge in witness and victim protection and data protection; trained in management of data;
Demonstrated people management skills;
Ability to speak and write in a clear manner including ability to draft a variety of reports; correspondence using gender-sensitive language;
Excellent writing and communication skills;
Familiarity with the UN system and good knowledge of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced study (Master’s or equivalent) in law, political sciences, international relations, gender studies or other disciplines related to human rights.

Experience:

Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in the area of human rights with a focus on women’s human rights and gender issues. Human rights investigation and monitoring experience an advantage.

Languages:

Fluency in English is required;
Fluency in Arabic will be an asset.

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment, please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.