Child Protection Specialist (Human Rights)

The Child Protection Specialist (Human Rights Programme) supports the implementation of the Joint Programme on Human Rights Programme Phase III (JPHR III) in Somalia. The role provides human rights expertise, legal and policy advice, technical quality assurance, capacity development, and monitoring support to strengthen national human rights institutions and mechanisms.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance, legal advisory services and operational support to government counterparts in Somalia to strengthen and sustain human rights institutions and mechanisms.
• Provide strategic and technical guidance to the Somali National Independent Human Rights Commission.
• Provide expertise on human rights complaints handling, monitoring and reporting systems by national institutions.
• Provide technical assistance and strategic guidance to Government counterparts to enhance cooperation with UN and regional human rights mechanisms.
• Support the National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-up (NMRF) in tracking and reporting on human rights commitments.
• Provide technical support and capacity development to civil society organizations, particularly human rights defenders and marginalized groups.
• Provide legal advisory services including analysis and legal research to align legislation with international human rights commitments.
• Participate in JPHR III meetings and contribute to policy papers and strategic programme materials.
• Provide capacity building and human rights expertise to human rights defenders, civil society actors, and memory institutions for cultural rights promotion.
• Provide technical inputs to JPHR III monitoring benchmarks and indicators to ensure inclusion of human rights standards and LNOB commitments.
• Participate in programme reviews, field monitoring, and technical assessments to assess quality of human rights implementation and recommend corrective actions.
• Build and sustain partnerships with government counterparts, national stakeholders, global partners, donors, and academia to promote human rights and cooperation.

Requirements

• Master or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Law, Political Science, Social Science, Development Studies, international relations, human rights, social science or related fields.
• A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in human rights.
• At least two years of experience supporting projects promoting accountability, access to justice and/or human rights capacity building.
• Minimum of three years of proven ability to build and maintain partnerships with civil society organizations in Somalia.
• Proven skills in drafting human rights reports.
• Knowledge of regional and international human rights mechanisms, including UN human rights mechanisms.
• Proven skills to integrate a human rights-based approach, leave no one behind and gender into all areas of work, including planning and reporting.
• Demonstrated knowledge of human rights monitoring, documentation, and analysis, including OHCHR’s methodologies.
• Demonstrated skills in designing, delivering, and evaluating human rights capacity-building and training programmes for national and local authorities and institutions and other stakeholders.
• Experience in providing technical assistance to national human rights institutions.
• Fluency in both English and Somali.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is desirable.
• Knowledge of Arabic is a strong asset.
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

Skills

• Human Rights Monitoring
• Human Rights Reporting
• Capacity Building in Human Rights
• Human Rights Approaches
• Gender Integration
• Accountability Promotion
• Access to Justice
• Partnership Building
• Civil Society Engagement
• Technical Assistance
• Training Design
• Training Delivery
• Training Evaluation
• Legal and Policy Advisory
• OHCHR Methodology
• Project Support
• Fluency in English
• Fluency in Somali
• Knowledge of UN Human Rights Mechanisms
• Knowledge of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms

Languages

English, Somali