UNDP Jobs - 108434- Support The Attorney General’s Office in Developin

Support The Attorney General’s Office in Developing A Protocol With the Judiciary Military

Location :

Home-based, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

31-Aug-22 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

The Sawasya II programme: Promoting the Rule of Law in Palestine represents the primary programmatic vehicle of the United Nations for advancing the rule of law, integrity, gender justice and human rights in Palestine for the period 2018-2022. Bringing together the main UN entities mandated and invested in these areas in an integrated programme framework, Sawasya II seeks to elevate the state-building enterprise for a progressively functioning and increasingly inclusive State of Palestine that respects, protects and fulfils human rights and gender equality, and promotes development, peace, and security. The programme has a dedicated output (2.1.) which aims at improving the quality and efficiency of security and justice services. Under this output, the Programme provides support to Attorney General Office (AGO) through its Human Right in the treatment of Torture complaints.

The public prosecution plays an important role in implementing the human rights obligations of the State of Palestine as per the human rights treaties it has acceded to. The Human Rights Unit (HRU) at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) was activated in January 2017, with the overall mandate to mainstream human rights principles into the work of the Public Prosecution. One of its main functions is receiving and resolving public grievances and accepting, all complaints of alleged human rights violations by the law enforcement. The Public Prosecution HRU, initiates investigations into those alleged violations, and tracks and follows up on the complaints submitted by detainees. The HRU team receives regular complaints against Palestinian security forces for alleged acts of ill-treatment and torture toward citizens and accused persons during the pre-detention stage of investigations. In performing its function, the HRU regularly engages with the Security Forces Justice Commission (SFJC), which is the competent authority for the prosecution of members of the security forces.

In cooperation with OHCHR, Sawasya II aims to support the Attorney General Office (AGO) and SFJC to jointly agree on a Protocol that will regulate the exchange of information and referral of complaints that fall under their jurisdiction. The Protocol should contain the following:

1. A unified procedure for referral of complaints of alleged human rights violations by law enforcement, including the sharing of documentation between Attorney General Office (AGO) and the SFJC.

2. A procedure for sharing information on the status of the investigation

3. A procedure on handling special cases/conditions that require a clear explanation to the Attorney General Office (AGO) by MJ. For example:

Detention outside of the legal period (more than 24 hours)
Procedures for investigating and processing complaints related to torture and ill-treatment as per the legal framework and international human rights treaties (CAT, and Istanbul protocol).
Re-detain the accused persons on unsubstantiated charges, i.e. arbitrarily
Refusal to release the accused when there is an official release order

4. The protocol should also contain a guidance framework for investigating and processing complaints of torture and ill-treatment for both AGO and MJ as per legal framework and international human rights treaties (CAT, and Istanbul protocol).

5. The Protocol should include the pathway and all levels that the complaints against torture are processing and final decision and this should be documented and shared with AGO

To that end, Sawasya II is seeking a national consultant specializing in the investigation and documentation of torture and other cruel, Inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment complaints as per CAT and Istanbul protocol. The overall objective of this assignment is to assess the current policies, procedures, and referral system, between AGO and MJ as well as the rules adopted by Attorney General’s office and Military Judiciary related to torture complaints processing, follow up, feedback, decision processing and mutual communication between the two parties. Furthermore, develop and draft a protocol that regulates and systemized the relationship between the AGO and MJ, as well as builds the capacity of members of the human rights unit and district prosecutors’ in AGO and their counterparts in the military judiciary in the protocol implementation including focal points from both sides.

The expert will perform his/her tasks under the supervision of the Sawasya II Human Rights Coordinator and Technical Specialist and in close collaboration with the human rights unit team in public prosecution.

You are cordially invited to submit an application as detailed in this Individual Consultancy (IC) Procurement Notice. Interested applicants should submit their technical and financial proposal on the following website: https://jobs.undp.org

The complete Individual Consultant Procurement Notice concerning this call for proposal can be examined and obtained free of charge from the website.

Both the technical and financial proposals should be submitted and uploaded in one file by the applicant in order to be considered for evaluation. Late and/or incomplete submissions will be rejected, where both the technical and financial proposals should be submitted before 31 August 2022 (Midnight New York, USA).

For inquires and clarifications about this procurement notice you may address proc1.papp@undp.org, noting that Requests for clarification from bidders will not be accepted any later than Five (5) days before the submission deadline. Responses to request for clarification will be communicated via https://jobs.undp.org and by replying to the emails.

Attention: Quotations shall be only submitted through the website of https://jobs.undp.org. Otherwise, offer shall be disqualified. And any delay in UNDP’s response shall be not used as a reason for extending the deadline for submission, unless UNDP determines that such an extension is necessary and communicates a new deadline to the proposers.

Looking forward to receiving your application and thank you in advance for your interest in UNDP procurement opportunities.

To enable you to submit a proposal, please click on this link https://we.tl/t-1crVDKNQwN which includes the following:

Annex I Terms of Reference (TOR)

Annex II Instructions to Applicants

Annex III Financial Proposal Form

Annex IV Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions

Annex V Letter of Interest and Availability

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant’s main tasks will be the following:

Review relevant laws, instruments, documentation, and reports on public prosecution in general and on Human Right Unit (HRU) in particular, as well as the Military Judiciary focusing on complaints documentation, investigation, and processing and referral to Military Judiciary including the detainee’s complaints in addition to the examples mentioned above.
Conduct interviews with the head of the human rights unit, chief prosecutors in the district’s public prosecutions, and other related departments in AGO as well as their counterparts in the Military Judiciary.
Conduct three mixed consultation workshops- one day each- for civil prosecutors and military prosecutors/ judiciary military officials in the districts.
Conduct a needs assessment for the AGO and the MJ, to reflect their needs to achieve what is required to develop and operationalize the protocol.
Conduct one day workshop to present the need assessment
Develop and draft the protocol.
Circulate the protocol to the focal points in AGO and MJ for their feedback
Finalize the protocol as per stakeholders’ feedback.
Organize a one-day workshop to present the final version of the protocol.
Conduct three mixed training days ‘workshops – one day each – for district prosecutors (civil and military).
Validate the Protocol by implementation and update if there are any comments by stakeholders.

Document achieved results on the final activity report including recommendations

Duration of the Work

The assignment initial duration is 5 months with expected commencing in September 2022, the IC is expected to accomplish the associated tasks within 12 working weeks over the duration of the contract.

Duty Station

The IC will be expected to carry out his/her assignment in the West Bank, however the duty station is Home-based.

Deliverables

To achieve this, the Individual Contactor will complete the following deliverables and report to the Programme Technical Specialist and the Human Rights Coordinator:

Detailed work plan needs to be approved and endorsed before the start of the assignment.
Inception report to be submitted within the period of 3 weeks from the contract stating date.
Final needs assessment draft covering the needs for AGO and MJ to develop the protocol, including conducting the 4 workshops to be submitted within the period of 7 weeks from the contract stating date
Final Draft of the protocol and presenting the protocol in one day workshop to be submitted within the period of 10 weeks from the contract stating date
Three one-day training workshops are conducted for AGO and MJ assigned teams and district prosecutors to be submitted within the period of 11 weeks from the contract stating date
Final report on the activities accomplished and presenting training recommendations workshop as well recommendations on the enhancement of the work between AGO and MJ to be submitted within the period of 12 weeks from the contract stating date.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN values and ethical standards
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability
Treats all people fairly without favouritism
Excellent analytical and organizational skills

Functional Competencies

Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
Demonstrates ability to manage complexities
Communicates effectively with staff at all levels of the organisation
Acts with tact and diplomacy
Proves outgoing and comfortable in handling external relations at all levels
Demonstrates compelling communication skills and cross-cultural effectiveness
Possesses the ability to convey difficult issues and positions to senior officials and counterparts.
Strong IT skills, particularly with MS Office.

Required Skills and Experience

The below experience and qualification requirements apply to this role.

Education (Pass/Fail Criteria)

At least a Master University degree in the field of law, criminal law, human rights law.

Experience

At least Ten years of experience working in rule of law and human rights locally or internationally.
A proven previous experience working in CSOs or government institutions in handling ill-treatment and torture complaints, for at least Five years.
At least Five years of experience training in the field of complaints investigation, documentation, and processing based on best practice models and the Istanbul Protocol.
At least two years of experience in legal research.
Experience working with a large UN rule of law program is an asset.

Languages

Fluency in Arabic and English is an asset.
Demonstrated a high level of professional writing in English and Arabic.

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 confidentiality.