Background

Millions of women and girls worldwide suffer some form of gender-based violence, be it domestic violence, rape, female genital mutilation/cutting, dowry-related killing, trafficking, sexual violence in conflict-related situations, or other manifestations of abuse. In fact, for women and girls 16-44 years old, gender based violence is a major cause of death and disability and up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime. Violence against women and girls persists in every country in the world as a pervasive violation of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality. Such violence is unacceptable, whether perpetrated by the State and its agents or by family members or strangers, in the public or private sphere, in peacetime or in times of conflict. The UN Secretary-General has stated that as long as violence against women continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development, and peace.

States have an obligation to protect women from violence, to hold perpetrators accountable and to provide justice and remedies to victims. Eliminating violence against women remains one of the most serious challenges of our time. The knowledge base and tools to prevent and eliminate violence against women developed over the past decade must be utilized more systematically and effectively to eliminate all forms of violence against women. This requires clear political will, outspoken, visible and unwavering commitment at the highest levels of leadership of the State and the resolve, advocacy and practical action of individuals and communities.

UN Women works jointly with the Government and non-State partners towards the overarching goal of ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) in Georgia. UN Women’s efforts to end violence against women and girls in Georgia are primarily supported by the Government Sweden (under the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality) and the European Union Delegation to Georgia (under the Unite to Fight Violence against Women project). To this end, UN Women provides technical support to the Government to meet their targets under the nationalized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5, and to further ensure that national policies and legislation are in compliance with Georgia’s international human rights commitments and obligations. In this regard, UN Women prioritizes support for the harmonization and implementation of Georgian legislation with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), which was signed by Georgia in 2014, and supports its ratification. UN Women works very closely with the key actors engaged in inter-sectoral coordination, referral and service provision to the victims/survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence, including but not limited to the Public Defender’s Office, police, social workers, lawyers, prosecutors and judges.

In order to support the Government of Georgia in meeting its international, regional and national obligations, in particular on harnessing legislation on ending violence against women and girls, UN Women is planning to recruit a Legal Specialist, who will be responsible for providing technical assistance to the Government of Georgia on legislative work on EVAWG.

Duties and Responsibilities

Legal Specialist will work under the direct supervision of UN Women Programme Analyst and will carry out the following functions:

  • Provide technical support and expertise in the area of VAWG/DV to the gender equality institutional mechanisms within the legislative and executive branches of the government primarily in the process of development of relevant pieces of legislation and policies and as necessary;
  • Carry out analysis of the normative framework on EVAWG in Georgia inter alia in line with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention);
  • Lead the working group on the improvement of legislation in the field of VAWG/ DV established under the auspices of UN Women;
  • Lead the meetings of the working group together with the UN Women team and collect remarks and suggestions expressed by the members of the working group;
  • Develop draft amendments to DV/VAWG related legislation;
  • Develop explanatory notes to the draft amendments;
  • Participate in relevant committee hearings of the draft amendments at the Parliament of Georgia;
  • Perform other duties as necessary in relation to the elaboration of legislative amendments (such as further research, data collection, inquiries, etc.);
  • Support the victim identification group inter alia by elaborating guidelines on identification of domestic violence/violence against women/sexual violence victims for the members of the group;
  • Support the DV Council (Commission on GE, VAWG, DV issues) to conduct the monitoring of the DV NAP 2016-2017;
  • Serve as a focal point for UN Women in relation with the relevant Government stakeholders / DV Council (Commission on GE, VAWG, DV issues) and civil society members in the drafting process of the new phase of the VAWG/DV NAP;
  • Support the DV Council (Commission on GE, VAWG, DV) in the drafting the next phase of the VAWG/DV NAP 2017-2018 based on the recommendations of the DV NAP 2016-2017 monitoring report, also by tracking and incorporating all the issues agreed on during the respective meetings;
  • Elaborate training modules for different professionals on the issues of VAWG/DV;
  • Provide capacity building trainings to different professionals on VAWG/DV issues;
  • Research for necessary information and resource materials as needed;
  • Perform other duties as required.

Competencies

Core Values:

  • Respect for Diversity
  • Integrity
  • Professionalism

Core Competencies:

  • Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
  • Accountability
  • Creative Problem Solving
  • Effective Communication
  • Inclusive Collaboration
  • Stakeholder Engagement
  • Leading by Example

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: http://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-employment-values-and-competencies-definitions-en.pdf

Functional Competencies:

  • Ability to contribute to the formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects;
  • Ability to build strong relationships with clients, focus on impact and results for the client and respond positively to feedback;
  • Basic financial and budgeting skills;
  • Good interpersonal skills;
  • Strong oral and written communication skills;
  • General knowledge of RBM tools;
  • Strong knowledge of local country context;
  • Strong problem solving skills;
  • Strong IT Skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s Degree in Law

Experience

  • At least 5 years of professional experience in legislative drafting, and analysis in the area of gender equality, violence against women, domestic violence;
  • Sound knowledge and understanding of gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence issues in Georgia;
  • Sound knowledge of national and international gender equality, violence against women and girls, domestic violence related legislation and instruments;
  • Sound knowledge of material and procedural legislation in the areas of Administrative, Criminal and Civil Law of Georgia.

Language requirements

  • Fluency in Georgian and English

Application procedure:

The application consisting of a CV, cover letter, and P11 form, for the position of Legal Specialist on the level of SB4-MIN (60%) must be in English, and submitted electronically through the website: http://jobs.undp.org/

P11 form can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.