Background

Access to justice is a fundamental right and an essential prerequisite for the protection and promotion of all other human rights. In the Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels, adopted in September 2012, Member States of the United Nations reaffirmed the right of equal access to justice for all, including members of vulnerable groups and “recognized the importance of the rule of law for the protection of the rights of the child, including legal protection from discrimination, violence, abuse and exploitation, ensuring the best interests of the child in all actions, and recommit to the full implementation of the rights of the child”

The signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018 was celebrated as a breakthrough for reversing the brutal civil conflict that has cost an estimated 400,000 lives and displaced more than 4 million people since its onset in December 2013. The signing of the R-ARCSS opened a new chapter and opportunity for peacebuilding, including reforming the justice system to solidify and speed up the peace process as a part of the implementation of provisions of the R-ARCSS. The signing has also decreased active warfare across the country and increased public confidence in sustaining peace at the community level. As the number of returnees are expected to rise, risk of community conflict increases without necessary justice and accountability mechanisms in place.

The violence in South Sudan has had a profound impact on individuals and communities as it has further weakened and destabilized coping mechanisms, protection of children, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response systems, and peace building initiatives. The violence has also negatively impacted institutional capacity for provision of basic social services and for justice and reconciliation; reinforced deep-seated grievances that underpin many inter-communal conflicts, perpetuating revenge killings and violence, including GBV. As much destruction goes on at community level through intercommunal conflict during cattle raid, fighting over land and water resources, accompanying abductions, forced marriage, child soldiers and gender-based violence. In displacement settings, threats and risks of GBV against women and children persist particularly sexual violence, intimate partner violence increases (IPV) as do sexual exploitation, harassment and child, and forced marriage.

Wide-spread acceptance of gender inequality and GBV, has also contributed to limited capacity and participation of women in local peace processes and social cohesion activities. Although women played a myriad of roles in support of peace making and peacebuilding within their communities during the civil war between north and South Sudan women’s formal participation in resolving the conflict through engagement in the formal peace processes has been marginal, as they face exclusion in leadership in a predominantly patriarchal society.

Children and youth (both male and female) are often targeted and caught up easily in violence and conflict in South Sudan. As long as communities, if not the state, cannot adequately maintain and/or provide security and rule of law, youth and children will continue to arm themselves and join militia or self-defence groups.

Juvenile survivor’s interests and perspectives are often completely overlooked in a context where the justice system is severely crippled such as South Sudan. This failed responsibility to protect children is partially due to relative disempowerment of children which is further compounded by their lack agency and representation by justice mechanisms, governance structures and civil society organizations.

Recognizing children and youth as a special category of survivors and understanding their unique needs is critical to breaking inter-generational cycles of abuse and impunity. Such recognition represents a transformative intervention to tackling injustice, as well as strengthening pillars of peace in a society where child right’s violations are not accepted as a mere status quo.

Juvenile perpetrators of crime are also often subject to violations of international standards and the provisions of the South Sudan Child Act. Due to the weak capacity and lack of relevant facilities, the juvenile justice system hardly responds to the applicable law including in relation to arrest, detention, sentencing (including death penalty) and the general well-being of juvenile offenders.

For instance, juveniles are often incarcerated alongside adult prisoners and convicts, exposing them to the risks of violence, exploitation and abuse, in violation of international standards and the provisions of the South Sudan Child Act.

The long-term consequences of such violations include a severe impact on the mental health and well-being of children, including depression and anxiety. They are highly likely to be marginalised, disadvantaged and vulnerable throughout their life and will most probably reoffend. Due to the weak justice system and lack of rule of law they are also likely to receive sentences which are far harsher than should be given and for petty crimes.

A juvenile justice unit has been established by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs since 2017 with the goal of diverting under-age offenders from sentencing by criminal courts and encouraging their rehabilitation based on the individual juvenile's needs. This juvenile system is to differ from adult or criminal court in several ways and envisages the following:  a focus on the child or adolescent as a person in need of assistance not on the act that brought him or her before the court; informal  proceedings with much discretion left to the juvenile court judge to adjudicate. Because the judge was to act in the best interests of the child, procedural safeguards available to adults, such as the right to an attorney, the right to know the charges brought against one, the right to trial by adjudicators, and the right to confront one's accuser, were thought unnecessary to the public. Juvenile court proceedings will be closed to the public and juvenile records are to remain confidential so as not to interfere with the child's or adolescent's ability to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. The very language used in juvenile court underscored these differences. So that Juveniles are not charged with crimes, but rather with delinquencies; they are not found guilty, but rather are adjudicated felonious; they are not sent to prison, but to training school or reformatory

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for developing Standard Operating Procedure for Juvenile Court in South Sudan.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

Under the supervision of the UNDP Access to Justice and Rule of Law Chief Technical Adviser and Project Manager, the consultant will accomplish the following deliverables following the stipulated timelines covering a total period of forty-five (45) working days.

• Inception Report outlining sections on South Sudan Laws on juvenile delinquency -2days with 5% payment
• Develop Standard Operating Procedure for Juvenile Courts South Sudan – 33 days with 55% payment
• Provide the first Draft of the SOP and organise two days validation workshop to review the SOP with all stakeholders; Judiciary, Justice Ministry, Local Government Board, Police and Prisons, including UNDP and PBF Technical Working Group to be led by the Chief Technical Advisor UNDP

And Submitting the final SOP by incorporating all feedback from the validation workshop – 10 days with 40% payment.

Scope of work

• Under the overall leadership of the Head of the Juvenile Court and Chief Technical Advisor and Program Manager of Access to Justice and Rule of Law, the consultant will develop Standard Operating Procedure for Juvenile Court.
• Conduct regular meetings/engagements/interviews/study material/focus groups discussions with Children and Women unit of Ministry of Justice, Juvenile Court of the Judiciary, Special Protection Unit the Police, juvenile reformatory school management and Local Government Board.
• Engagements with experts on child rights

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations;
• Strong communication, team building, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills.

Professionalism

• Effective communication
• Problem Solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
• Shows pride in work and achievements;
• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.

Planning & Organising

• Organises and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration individual assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships;
• Plans, coordinates and organises workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines;
• Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff, partners and beneficiaries to achieve the planned results.

Ethics & Values:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.

Organizational Awareness: 

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the United Nations Country Team in South Sudan
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Ethics & Values:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.

Organizational Awareness:

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the United Nations Country Team in South Sudan
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in law, international relations, or other disciplines related to human rights. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in the area of Child rights and protection is required.  
• Excellent report writing skills, including ability to write high quality reports, conduct research and articulate ideas in a clear concise style;
• Familiarity and previous working experience with criminal justice institutions in South Sudan particularly on Children’s rights.
• Proven experience in conducting research in emergency contexts. Published works in peer reviewed journals would be a significant advantage.

Language:

• Ability to communicate clearly in written and spoken English.
• Knowledge of Arabic, both spoken and written, will be a distinct advantage.

Application Procedure:

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• Personal CV, indicating all experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount breaking down the professional fee, travel expenses, living allowance etc.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Interested applicants are required to submit technical proposals to the following address via email latest by 24 August 2020. The available starting date of the assignment should be clearly stated in the Letter of Interest.

Technical proposal comprising of the following:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references;
• Brief description (max. 1 page) of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment;
• Proposal containing a summary description of proposed strategy and how the strategy will ensure the achievement of the objectives, proposed methodology.

Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and proposed methodology will be weighted 70%.

Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and methodology

Technical evaluation criteria (total 70 points)

• Experience in working with and supporting capacity building programmes of criminal justice system especially in areas of responding to and management of SGBV cases [25 marks].
• Experience in developing policies, guidelines, and conducting training of trainers in relation to capacity building on management of SGBV cases [35 marks].
• Proposed methodology [10 marks].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation (total 30 points)

All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula: p y (/z)

Where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal price of the lowest-priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.