Senior Human Rights Officer

The Senior Human Rights Officer provides strategic oversight and senior-level guidance on the monitoring, implementation, and advocacy of human rights and international humanitarian law across UN locations. The role involves managing human rights capacity-building, reporting, advocacy, and partnerships to advance accountability and integration of human rights norms in various frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic oversight for the monitoring of the implementation of human rights and international humanitarian law and ensure follow-up on recommendations from human rights mechanisms, including treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review and special procedures, as well as investigative findings, to ensure compliance with human rights and advance accountability.
• Provide strategic direction and exercise institutional accountability for the collection, documentation and management of evidence-based information on civil, cultural, economic, social and/or political rights, including the right to development, enabling thorough analysis, early warning and response, and informed decision-making, ensuring data is discoverable, interoperable and shared appropriately from gender and leave-no-one-behind perspectives.
• Set the strategic framework for and provide senior-level oversight of human rights monitoring and field verification missions, including assessments and early warning exercises, ensuring adherence to UN methodology, gender indicators and victim/witness protection standards, and the quality of comprehensive reports on findings and recommendations.
• Provide strategic oversight and final clearance for the drafting and dissemination of human rights reports, briefings and other communications, with legal analysis as appropriate, and ensure the preparation of analytical papers to inform strategies, policies, programmes, crisis management, guidance and strategic decision-making processes, with attention to gender integration and leave-no-one-behind perspectives.
• Exercise strategic oversight and provide authoritative direction for the preparation of analytical papers, including on lessons learned, ensuring integration into human rights strategies, crisis management, prevention and response policies, programmes and other strategic decision-making processes.
• Provide senior-level guidance to national and/or regional counterparts to strengthen their human rights systems, institutions and frameworks, including complaints mechanisms, victim and witness support services, and engagement with human rights mechanisms, including reporting and implementation of recommendations.
• Provide strategic direction and exercise senior-level oversight of human rights capacity-building programmes for State institutions, security forces, NHRIs, civil society and other stakeholders, including on human rights-based approaches with attention to gender integration and leave-no-one-behind perspectives.
• Exercise institutional accountability for human rights mainstreaming and the integration of human rights norms and standards into political, peace and security, humanitarian, development and economic frameworks and processes, to tackle impunity and address socio-economic, development and other human rights challenges.
• Represent and engage at a senior level in inter-governmental negotiations, public forums and peace processes, providing authoritative advocacy for the integration of human rights standards, mobilizing support for comprehensive anti-discrimination action and building strategic coalitions.
• Provide senior-level guidance to civil society on the integration of human rights into protection, rule of law, human rights economy, transitional justice and accountability, establishing framework for engagement.
• Provide authoritative senior-level guidance to UN leadership and UN partners on the integration of human rights into protection, rule of law, human rights economy, transitional justice and accountability.
• Represent the human rights function at the highest levels in senior-management and other UN coordination fora, integrated analysis and planning processes and/or joint funding opportunities, ensuring coherent information flow and timely integration of human rights analysis into UN decision-making and programmatic responses.
• Provide strategic direction and exercise institutional accountability for the development of strategies on protection of civilians, conflict-related sexual violence and child protection, ensuring early warning is translated into coordinated responses.
• Exercise strategic oversight and provide authoritative guidance on support to treaty bodies, special procedures, the UPR and/or commissions of inquiry, exercising accountability for quality and consistency of outputs.
• Oversee and steer the resource mobilization strategy and its implementation to advance the Office's goals, providing senior-level guidance, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and exercising accountability for performance and outcomes.
• Set the strategic direction and provide senior-level oversight for advocacy and impactful outreach activities for the promotion of Human Rights, ensuring institutional coherence.
• Oversee and steer the implementation of an Office-wide partnerships strategy, providing senior-level guidance, and ensuring partner engagement and results.
• Direct the implementation of an effective communication strategy to amplify human rights messaging and outreach, exercising strategic oversight to ensure coherence, reach and impact.
• Maintain confidentiality and integrity and handle sensitive information with discretion, ensuring compliance with the UN data privacy, security requirements, and standards.
• Provide strategic direction and exercise senior-level oversight of the design, delivery and quality assurance of training programmes and workshops using various platforms for different audiences to enhance the capacity of UN staff and partners.
• Manage and coordinate the activities of the team, including hiring, training, assigning tasks and responsibilities, and ensuring that deadlines are met.
• Plan and manage required resources to implement the responsibilities, projects, and activities.
• Provide guidance to team members to promote professional development and a positive team culture.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in human rights, law, political science, international relations, social sciences, economics, public policy, sustainable development, humanitarian affairs or related field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in human rights or related areas is required.
• Relevant experience may include, but is not limited to political affairs, public affairs, international relations, law, social sciences, economics, development, humanitarian affairs, or other related areas.
• Knowledge of international human rights law, norms, and standards is required.
• Skills to integrate a human rights-based approach, leave no one behind, gender equality and women's empowerment into all areas of work is required.
• Programme Management skills are required.
• Ability to mobilize support from a wide range of partners and stakeholders is required.
• People management skills are required.

Skills

• International Human Rights Law
• Human Rights Monitoring
• Human Rights Advocacy
• Human Rights Reporting
• Human Rights Capacity-Building
• Human Rights Approaches
• Gender Equality Integration
• Programme Management
• Stakeholder mobilization
• People Management

Languages

English, French