UNDP Jobs - 55681- International Consultant on Implementation of Inte

International Consultant on Implementation of International Treaties into National Legal System

Location :

Home-based and one field trip to Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

30-Apr-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

15 days (IC contract, part-time) during May - July, 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

15 days (IC contract, part-time) during May - July, 2015

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

Project Title/Department: Support to the Enhancement of Lawmaking, Rulemaking and Regulatory Impact Assessment

Support to the Enhancement of Lawmaking, Rulemaking and Regulatory Impact Assessment (the Project) focuses on the development of public policy and legislation. Overall goal of the project is to strengthen national capacity for public policy development through sustainable increase in the quality of public policy content, introduction of tools for evidence-based policy making (RIA, anti-corruption expertise), and contribution to the overall public policy agenda by promoting multi stakeholders involvement in public policy development and law drafting processes.

Generally, the legislation of Uzbekistan is bound by the international law. Particularly, the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan recognizes priority of admitted international law regulations. This principle is also incorporated in law-making and rule-making processes. It can be found in the Laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan On basic principles of foreign political activities, On treaties and in the Concept of foreign political activities of the Republic of Uzbekistan (2012) as well as in the majority part of legislation.

In terms of classification of international treaties, the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan On treaties stipulates 3 categories of treaties: inter-state, inter-governmental and inter-agency treaties. The process of implementation and incorporation of international treaties into domestic legal system and court jurisdiction is uneven. The main challenges include the low quality of agency-based expert opinions on justification for ratification, limited systemic analysis of the harmonization of national legislation in line with international legal commitments, and lack of clear inter-agency procedures for coordination of approval process as well as coherent implementation and monitoring measures. The mechanism for implementation and incorporation of international legal norms needs to be enhanced with a view to improve the quality of legislative and rulemaking process, compliance of national legislation with international standards and implying the best practices in this field.

As per various estimations, Uzbekistan is a signatory to about 5000 treaties, which include inter-governmental and inter-agency treaties and agreements too. Increasing number of treaties encourages the acceleration and simplification of cooperation among government authorities in drafting and implementing treaties. Hence there is need to conceptual the methodology of classification and monitoring of treaties, to improve the implementation and harmonization mechanisms, to increase the quality of public policy content, national legislation and engage closely various stakeholders for pre-accession and post-ratification stages in consultative process.

These objectives foresee to conduct inventory of all ratified treaties, including the treaty certification process which determine the causes for termination, prolongation, reservations or amendments to earlier signed treaties. The measures to improve the procedures for inter-agency cooperation and coordination will cover not only pre-accession period, but also implementation and monitoring stages after a treaty is ratified. To systemize the variety of international treaties signed by different levels of state authorities, it is also essential to develop the treaty classification methodology which would be useful for different actors, including Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, which are involved in implementation, incorporation, compliance and application processes. This will increase the accessibility and transparency of ratified international treaties as well as the monitoring on the status of harmonization and compliance processes. The methodological and procedural parts of this assignment will also be used to enhance the existing database of international treaties and data exchange between different government bodies involved in ratification, compliance and monitoring processes.

In this regard, the RIA Project intends to recruit International Consultant who will work on enhancement of in-country procedures and mechanisms concerning pre-accession period as well as post-ratification period covering the harmonization and implementation issues. Therefore, the International Consultant will work under direct supervision of Project Manager and in close consultation with Task Manager on Regulatory Policy, the involved national partners and be responsible for the following duties:

Duties and Responsibilities

Key tasks and responsibilities:

Conducts a desk-review comparative analysis of the best international practices on:

Criteria and methodology for inventory/classification of treaties;
Methodology and/or standards for termination, prolongation, reservations and amendments to treaties;
Administrative mechanism and internal agency procedures for coordination of treaty signing, ratification and implementation in the country;
Domestic legal framework and organizational arrangements for mechanism of pre-accession preparation, ratification, approval, implementation, termination and suspension of treaties;
Standards/practices/procedures for harmonization of national legislation in line with treaties in the countries where supremacy of international law over national legal jurisdiction is recognized by Constitution;
Practice for review of draft laws and regulations for compliance with international legal commitments during law-making and rulemaking processes;
The best cases on incorporation of international legal norms into national legislation, regulatory framework and judicial practice in the course of legislative drafting process and the application of treaties in law enforcement and court practice.

Conducts a five-day mission in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, including meetings with key stakeholders to identify and study the issues for further improvement of harmonization of national legislation vis-à-vis treaties, implementation and incorporation of international legal norms as well as inter-agency cooperation, coordination and monitoring on treaties.

Prepares agenda of mission to Tashkent, Uzbekistan with a list of agencies to meet and a list of issues to be discussed based on the results of desk-work envisaged in the Task No 1. According to negotiated and agreed mission agenda, the RIA team will help organize and facilitate the meetings with national partners, including Parliament, Cabinet of Ministers, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute for Monitoring of Current Legislation and others.

Reviews the existing national framework, legislation, procedures and technological platforms used to pre-accession, ratification, post-ratification, implementation and monitoring processes in Uzbekistan.

Develops draft recommendations on enhancing the pre-ratification preparedness, harmonization, implementation and monitoring procedures and institutional arrangements on 3 categories of treaties and submit them to RIA team for further discussion with national partners and incorporate their comments and feedback.

Participates in de-briefings for key stakeholders involved in implementation of international treaties.

Consults RIA project team on further enhancing the policy framework and supporting national partners involved in inter-agency coordination of treaty pre-accession, incorporation and monitoring processes.

Identifies the best foreign practices which might be applicable to improve the existing treaty implementation and monitoring mechanism in Uzbekistan. These best practices shall be focused on procedures for legal expertise of draft Bills for compliance with generally accepted principles of international law, international legal commitments of the country, harmonization and incorporation of international legal norms into the text and content of legislation, rules of procedures applied in cases of conflict between national legislation and treaties as well as direct and indirect application of treaties in law enforcement and judicial practice.

Proposes the recommendations to advance the inter-agency coordination, access and data sharing mechanism for unified system of international treaties on regular and systemic reporting of the implementation progress.

Proposes the suggestions to ensuring a wider accessibility of unified system of treaties for use of treaty collection and monitoring results for law-making, rulemaking, educational, scientific, policy making, open data, educational, judicial and other related legitimate purposes.

Provides recommendations on further awareness raising of government civil servants on treaties, implementation and monitoring processes.

Deliverables:

Output No.1:

Brief progress report which include the analytical results of desk-work exercise according to Task No.1,

Due date: May 30, 2015

Output No.2:

Draft mission agenda with a list of topics and agencies for proposed meetings. Any handout materials and recommended best practices identified in the desk-review stage of the assignment should be proposed by international consultant to RIA team for translation and dissemination among national partners prior to meetings.

Due date: June 15, 2015

Output No.3:

Mission report on major findings, key recommendations and results of mission to Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Final report with coherent list of justified proposals and recommendations on further improvement of treaty harmonization, implementation and monitoring systems and mechanisms in Uzbekistan.

Due date: July 30, 2015

Duration of consultancy assignment: total assignment – 15 days:

Desk-work – 5 days;
Mission to Tashkent, Uzbekistan – 5 days;
Final report preparation and submission – 5 days.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Strong communication skills, client-orientation, ability to work in a team;
Initiative, analytical judgment, ability to work under pressure, ethics and honesty;
Ability to use ICT as a tool and resources.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University Degree in Law, Public Policy, Public Administration, International Law, International Relations or Political Science is required.

Experience:

At least 5 years of experience in the field of international legal analysis, public international law research, treaty monitoring, or practical implementation of international treaties in government agencies, law enforcement or judicial practice or teaching in the field of international public law and international treaties;
Experience in analytical and methodological work on classification, implementation and monitoring of international treaties for international organizations, government agencies or parliaments would be an advantage;
Knowledge in preparation and monitoring of multilateral and bilateral international treaties is an asset;

Language:

Fluent English;
Knowledge of Russian is an asset.

Documents To Be Included When Submitting The Proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal:

Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work and providing proposal with samples of previous work results.
P-11 form and Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability;
Applicants are required to fill and sign a P11 Form and Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and submit it to the online application

Above mentioned documents can be obtained at http://www.uz.undp.org/content/dam/uzbekistan/docs/Operations/Jobs/PH_form.doc

Application process:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11);
Merge your P11 and Proposal into a single file;
Click on the Job Title;
Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and click “Submit Application”;
Upload your P11 form instead of CV.

You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Note:

Only shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide a financial proposal

Financial Proposal

Lump sum contracts

This is a lump sum contract. The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount. ). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days);
The payment will be made in two installments to be issued upon completion and submission of Performance Evaluation Form (PEF) on the works performed as indicated in the terms of reference.

Travel:

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation

The individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis methodology.

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

responsive/compliant/acceptable
Having received the highest score out of the set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight – 70%;
Financial Criteria weight – 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points for the Technical Criteria will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.