Background

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’s Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Legacy project commenced in 2010, with the aim of fostering a positive legal and jurisprudential legacy from the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.  The Office has been working closely for many years with the Government, the development community, judges, lawyers and civil society to contribute to rebuilding a legal system governed by the rule of law and guided by human rights standards. As part of its programme of technical cooperation, OHCHR cooperates with the Ministry of Justice, the Courts and lawyers to contribute to achieving a sound and lasting legacy in Cambodia. The aims of the project are:

  • To support, facilitate and make happen the sharing by ECCC Cambodian judges, prosecutors, lawyers and legal professionals of their knowledge, skills and experience with judicial and legal professionals working in the domestic sector, by facilitating peer-to-peer activities (judicial roundtables, legal dialogues amongst lawyers) as well as public lectures and seminars (in law schools) during the lifespan of the tribunal (the ‘Human Resources’ Legacy Objective);
  • To promote, on an ongoing basis, the good practices developed by the ECCC through knowledge-sharing avenues, including information on our website, newsletters featuring the ECCC’s ‘promising practices’ and maintaining a matrix of legacy-related activities for donors, legal and judicial professionals and NGOs (the ‘Public Information’ Legacy Objective); and
  • To foster initiatives which allow for the work of the tribunal to become an integral part of the ongoing, step-by-step legal and judicial reform process identified in the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s Rectangular Strategy, through the creation of tools, handbooks, guidance notes, or curricula for law students that may add to the knowledge base of judges, lawyers and law students studying and practicing criminal law in Cambodia (the ‘Legal Education’ Legacy Objective).  

Duties and Responsibilities

The relevance of the work:

The work will be central to the completion of the OHCHR ECCC Legacy Project. The Consultant will be expected to take the intellectual lead in this work, in collaboration with a national staff member, under the supervision of the Head of OHCHR’s Rule of Law Unit. 

Stakeholders include national judges and prosecutors (at the provincial and appeal levels), the Ministry of Justice, the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia, legal aid providers, judges, prosecutors and lawyers of the ECCC and law students.

Scope of the work and expected deliverables:

The Consultant will assist the Rule of Law Team in carrying out the legacy-related activities set out in the annual work plan. In particular, the Consultant will:

Organize the following activities:

  • The Fair Trial Rights Academy - eight sessions taught as part of the human rights module at the Lawyers Training Centre for trainee lawyers to introduce them to fair trial rights (25 days’ work). The Academy will be organized by 31 August 2014;
  • A series of three one-day Legal Dialogues with lawyers of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia for ECCC judges, prosecutors and lawyers to share experiences in the application of the Code of Criminal Procedure (40 days’ work).  The series of three legal dialogues will be organized by 30 September 2014. The report will be drafted, translated and circulated by 31 October 2014;
  • The Fair Trial Rights Academy (similar course as above) taught to either law students or trainee judges and prosecutors at the Royal Academy of Judicial Professions (RAJP) – depending on RAJP and/or Ministry of Justice’s approval (25 days’ work). The Academy will be organized by 30 November 2014;
  • One one-day Legacy Update meeting, convening the key actors working on ECCC legacy in Cambodia to share developments and lessons learnt (20 days’ work).  The legacy update meeting will be organized by 31 December 2014. The report will be drafted, translated and circulated by 31 January 2015;
  • A half-day study tour for national judges and prosecutors to attend hearings in Case 002/02 at the ECCC and meet ECCC officials (10 days’ work). The study tour will be organized by 28 February 2015;
    For each of these activities, the Consultant will be responsible for the overall planning of the events, including identification of topics for discussion, identification of speakers, drafting the agenda, identification of participants, sending out invitations, drafting statements or speeches, publicizing the event, undertaking all logistical preparations, drafting the reports of the meetings and preparing updates for the Legacy webpage.

Update the text of the Annotated Code of Criminal Procedure on the basis of ECCC decisions adopted during the trial stage of Case 002/1 (50 days’ work). Updates will be translated into Khmer and uploaded onto the companion website of the Annotated Code by 10 March 2015.

Prepare for the completion of the Legacy project, by conducting consultations with all relevant stakeholders working on Legacy. On the basis of these consultations, the Consultant will draft a paper outlining options for further integration of legacy issues into the Rule of Law programme, handing over of selected legacy activities to international and national partner institutions and future legacy activities to be carried by the Rule of Law programme over the next few years (28 days’ work). The paper will be completed by 31 December 2014.

Supervision and institutional arrangements:

The Consultant will be directly supervised by the Head of the OHCHR Rule of Law Unit,under the overall supervision of the OHCHR Deputy Representative.  The project will be run in the Cambodia Office of OHCHR, which operates under the direction of the Representative. A monthly progress report will be submitted.  Further Ad hoc written reporting may be required.

Duration of the work:

The work will be completed between 10 March 2014 and 10 March 2015.  During this period, the Consultant will be paid for 198 days, worked as per agreement with the Head of the Rule of Law Unit.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Knowledge of human rights issues in Cambodia;
  • Knowledge of transitional justice issues.

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
  • Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:   

  • Masters degree or equivalent in law, political or social science and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law.

Experience: 

  • 3 years of relevant professional experience at the national or international level;
  • Working knowledge and experience in the areas of international human rights law and/or international criminal law;
  • Working knowledge and experience of the Cambodian justice system, including of the ECCC.

Language Requirements:

  • Fluency in oral and written English, strong drafting skills in English, knowledge of Khmer is an asset.

Important note:

Interested offeror is strongly advised to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, wich can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=25462 for more detail about term of references, instructions to offeror, and documents to be included when submitting offer.

Documents to be included when submitting the application:

Interested offeror/individual must submit the following documents/information:

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested candidate is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email vannara.chea@undp.org and/or procurement.kh@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice.