Background

Purpose:

• Update the National Comprehensive Mapping and Analysis of National Laws of South Sudan as a Step Towards the Elimination of Discriminatory Laws.

Background:

Over 2.5 billion women and girls around the world are affected by discriminatory laws and the lack of legal protections, often in multiple ways. The spaces in which laws have been designed, implemented, or even studied as a profession have historically excluded women and girls. As a result, their voices and perspectives continue to be largely absent from the text of the laws and legal practices. Gender discrimination in law is commonplace and includes different standards for women and men in applying for a passport, choosing employment, transferring nationality to a child or foreign spouse, participating in court proceedings, receiving an inheritance, owning, and acquiring land, and deciding when and whom to marry. Laws that promote gender equality can yield multiple dividends: among other potential benefits, a law that enables women to inherit on an equal basis with men could empower mothers to invest in the education of their daughters. This increases women’s average age of marriage because girls who stay in school are less likely to be married off. On the other hand, lower levels of gender equality in national laws are associated with fewer girls enrolled in primary and secondary education, fewer women in skilled work, fewer women owning land, fewer women accessing financial and health services, and more women facing domestic, family, and sexual violence.

Law reform more broadly, and the repeal or revision of discriminatory laws specifically, are inherent to the achievement of gender equality, a requirement for realizing the transformative ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are also among the specific commitments of States enshrined in relevant international conventions and United Nations standards and norms. Yet progress in eliminating discriminatory laws has been uneven.  In many cases, global, regional, and national sources of support have not been fully harnessed to accelerate reforms. Key propellers have included the monitoring role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee), country visits of the United Nations Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, the policies of regional and inter-regional bodies, statements of political leaders from national governments, ongoing investments in the analysis of laws from a gender perspective, continued education of the judiciary on the domestic application of international law, judicial activism in striking down unconstitutional or discriminatory laws, the active engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs), campaigns to galvanize awareness, and the collection of data to track specific aspects of discriminatory laws.

Against this background, UN Women, the African Union, the Commonwealth, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Organization International de la Francophonie, and Secretaría General Ibero-Americana have issued Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder Strategy for Accelerated Action as a roadmap for the elimination of laws that discriminate against women and girls. The strategy presented in Equality in Law for Women and Girls focuses on the repeal or revision of discriminatory laws as an important part of a broader legal reform agenda that supports the achievement of gender equality. In this broader context, it seeks to ensure the elimination of all discriminatory legislation by 2030.

Context of the South Sudan legal framework:

The Government of South Sudan has created a legal and policy environment that is conducive to promote the rights of women and girls. South Sudan is a party to various international human rights instruments such as the UN Charter on Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)  the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (through its parliament, but it has not officially submitted its instrument of ratification for both these treaties) , the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (not ratified yet), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the CEDAW. However, South Sudan has not taken any action about ratifying the Optional Protocol (OP) - CEDAW, which has led to the general lack of awareness of its contents, and its utilization as an enforcement mechanism by civil society.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan revised in 2015, establishes the equal rights of women and men across economic, social, and political spheres, including education, employment, and access to and management of resources. In line with the constitution, the Government of South Sudan has acted in addressing challenges in tackling violence against women and girls (including harmful traditional practices (HTPs)).

Despite these positive legal steps, gaps remain in addressing all aspects of violence against women and girls. South Sudan has not succeeded in enacting specific domestic violence laws, Moreover, current legislation does not explicitly address sexual violence, economic violence, marital rape, and other emerging violence such as acid attack and gang rape.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective:

UN Women South Sudan is thus looking to engage a legal consultant to handle the following tasks:

PART ONE:

Considering findings of existing analysis and assessments, undertake a comprehensive analysis of the laws of South Sudan from a gender perspective, beginning from the social, cultural, economic and political context, underpinning the current state of affairs; and Beijing action platform, CEDAW and Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder Strategy for Accelerated Action as a roadmap for the elimination of laws that discriminate against women and girls.

PART TWO:

• Develop position papers on violence against women and interlinkages with access to justice to enhance knowledge management and information sharing among key partners;
• Provide UN Women with technical inputs for legislative and policy reform, and advocacy interventions to end violence against women.

Methodology and Scope of Work:

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Deputy Country Representative, the consultant will undertake a comprehensive mapping of the legal landscape of South Sudan for the purpose of capturing all forms of legal frameworks (the constitution, statutes, legislative instruments, executive orders, administrative regulations, case law and other relevant and related government legal frameworks). The legal texts in question must cover legislation that is specifically related to women and girls, as well as those relating to other fields and sectors. Each legal text will be analyzed to determine how their provisions impact upon the achievement of gender equality. The report outline will cover the following:

• The plural legal, political, social, economic, and cultural context of South Sudan;
• Ascertain South Sudan ’s commitments to global, regional and sub-regional frameworks which advance gender equality;
• The extent to which these commitments have been translated into domestic law, identifiable gaps in the content of existing laws as well as implementation and the reasons for such gaps;
• An analysis of other sectoral laws and how these impact on the achievement of gender equality;
• An overview of the role that formal, informal and semi-formal courts have played in: (a) advancing gender equality; (b) reinforcing gender inequality or (c) both;
• In considering 1-5, the consultant will determine whether and how the laws in question explicitly treat women and men or girls and boys differently and/or indirectly based on being neutral on its face but discriminatory in effect due to pre-existing inequalities that are not addressed by the apparently neutral measure;
• Following the above narrative, the consultant will annex to the report, a table that encapsulates; (1) the titles and dates of all the laws under investigation; (2) the sections which are explicitly or implicitly discriminatory; (3) gaps in the law; (4) the basis for arriving at these conclusions (5) signed and rectified international instruments by South Sudan and (6) recommended actions to relevant stakeholders.

Deliverables:

• Conduct a legal analysis from a gender perspective of agreed sectors of national legislation, considering provisions in the Beijing action platform, CEDAW, and Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder Strategy for Accelerated Action as a roadmap for the elimination of laws that discriminate against women and girls;
• Undertake consultations with key stakeholders to identify the sectoral laws for revision;
• Draft 2 position/ advocacy papers on violence against women access to justice for women and transitional justice.

Timelines:

The consultant will undertake the assignment in consultation with relevant government departments and ministries, Civil society organizations, and UN Women, and will deliver on the following products over a period of 30 days between the period 15 July - 16 August 2021  

Expected deliverables:

• Methodology developed and shared;
• Draft an inception report for the analysis of legislation from a gender perspective;
• Conduct consultations to identify sectoral laws;
• Develop draft report on the legislation analysis from a gender perspective;
• Facilitate a validation workshop to present legislation analysis findings; 
• Provide a final report and brief on the legislation analysis from a gender perspective; 
• Draft 2 position briefs on the finding of the analysis and on violence against women, access to justice and transitional justice for women.

Competencies

Technical Competencies:

• Experience in issues related to gender equality, legal reforms, transitional justice and ending violence against women.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to pragmatically apply in-depth knowledge and experience of issues and practices in the fields of judiciary systems; legal. reform; gender equality, including ending violence against women in South Sudan;
• Strong skills and experience in presenting evidence and ideas for policy and programme;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Strong communications skills (written and oral).

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN Women;
• 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

Skills and Experience of the National Consultant:

The assignment is expected to be carried out by one independent expert or individual consultant. The expert can form a team to carry out the commission, however, the contract will be made with the expert and overall responsibilities for the service will be upon the expert. The consultant needs to be independent in terms of using office spaces, equipment, utility, and other logistics. UN Women facilities may not be available unless specified.   

Expected skills and experiences of the evaluation expert is mentioned below:-

• Master’s degree in law. A PhD will be an added value;
• At least 10 years’ experience on the legal landscape of South Sudan from a gender perspective and ability to undertake a gender analysis of national legislation and policy documents;
• Proven knowledge of international practices, legislations, and policies; and instruments, including violence against women; and/or the protection of human rights;
• Experience in managing and facilitating high-level dialogues, round table discussions, consultations, with stakeholders at both grassroots and national levels;
• Experience of working with CSOs initiatives and government;
• Proven experience to collect, analyze and interpret complex qualitative and quantitative data;
• Excellent command of English is required, and additionally, good command of Arabic is an added advantage;
• Previous professional experience with development agencies and the United Nations would be considered an asset.

Application Evaluation Criteria:

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the submissions, with evaluation of the technical components being completed prior to any price proposals being opened and compared. The price proposal will be opened only for submissions that passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical component. The technical component is evaluated based on its responsiveness to the Term of Reference (TOR).

Technically qualified consultants may be selected for an interview before financial evaluation. Maximum 100 points will be given to the lowest offer and the other financial proposals will receive the points inversely proportional to their financial offers. i.e. Sf = 100 x Fm / F, in which Sf is the financial score, Fm is the lowest price and F the price of the submission under consideration.

The weight of technical points is 70% and financial points is 30%.

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

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
2. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on the following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Application procedure and deadline:

Interested applicants must submit the following document/information (in PDF format) to demonstrate their qualifications

Technical component:

• Letter of interest explaining why they are the most suitable for the work
• Technical proposal of no more than 3 pages outlining the applicant's understanding of the issue to be addressed in the study and proposed methodology for the assignment, including stakeholders to be met.
• Signed Curriculum vitae with contact details of 03 clients for whom you have rendered   preferably similar services
• Sample work

Financial proposal (with your signature):

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount in US Dollar including consultancy fees and all associated costs i.e. airfares, travel cost, meal, accommodation, tax, insurance etc. Travels within South Sudan are expected.
• Please note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment.

Please note that applications without a completed and signed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. The system will allow only one file to be uploaded and hence merge your multiple files in one document before uploading. 

UN Women Personal History form (P-11) can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment .

UNWOMEN 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.