Protection Associate - G6 - Temporary Appointed

This position is open to internal and external applicants. Protection Associate

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

More than even years into the Syria crisis, Lebanon remains the country hosting the largest number of refugees per
capita, with over one million Syrian refugees, and around 20,000 refugees of Iraqi, Sudanese, Ethiopian and other origins, in addition to the Palestine refugees under UNRWA¿s mandate. There are no formal camps for Syrian refugees in the country, and refugees are living in hundreds of communities and locations across the country.

The refugee response is led by the Government and local actors, supported by the international community. As the designated lead agency in the refugee response, UNHCR has established a sector based structure in Beirut and in the field. The structure brings together over 100 UN agencies, national and international NGO partners in identifying and agreeing on the strategic priorities to address the needs of Syrian refugees and other affected populations. The Lebanon national response falls under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), whereby UNHCR guides the refugee response and UNDP facilitates the resilience and stabilization component.

The UNHCR operational response in Lebanon is one of the largest for the organization. Media attention and the frequency of influential high-profile visitors is high. Aside from the country office in the capital city of Beirut, UNHCR has offices in Mt Lebanon, Qobayat, Tripoli, Tyre and Zahle.

The Protection Associate reports to the Associate Protection Officer (Legal).  He/she monitors protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards and provides functional protection support to information management and programme staff.

The Protection Associate is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern and identify opportunities to mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards in operational responses in all sectors.  He/she contributes to designing a comprehensive protection strategy and liaises externally with authorities and partners on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor.

The Protection Associate also ensures that persons of concern are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and protection and assistance partners


FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT

Accountability

- The protection of populations of concern is met through the application of International and National Law, relevant UN/UNHCR protection standards and IASC principles.
- Protection activities are guided by the UNHCR country protection strategy.
- The participation of persons of concern is facilitated through continuous assessment and evaluation using participatory, rights and community based approaches.
- Protection incidents are immediately identified and reported.

Responsibility

- Provide legal advice in high risk cases, with focus on family law.
- Provide constant guidance and coaching to legal staff, including lawyers working with UNCHR partners in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
- Provide direct legal counselling to refugees on matters related to GBV, divorce, custody, legal stay, HLP, and exit formalities among others.
- Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
- Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
- Provide advice on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
- Assist in conducting eligibility and status determination for persons of concern.
- Contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
- Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy.
- Contribute to a country-level education plan as part of the protection strategy.
- Monitor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
- Manage individual protection cases including those on SGBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents.
- Assist in identifying durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Contribute to effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
- Participate in initiatives to capacitate authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.

Authority

- Prioritize persons of concern for interview, counselling and propose protection support for individual cases.
- Enforce compliance of local implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
- Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
- Submit individual payments request for persons of concern for approval. 

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

- Education: Completion of secondary school.  Additional certificate/training in International Law, Political Science or related field is required.
- Job experience: Relevant to the function: 6 years.
- Fluency in English and working knowledge of another relevant UN language or local language.

(In offices where the working language is not English, excellent knowledge of UN working language of duty station and working knowledge of English).

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

- Good computer skills.
- Completed Protection Learning Programme.
- University Degree in Law Please also note that English is essential for this Job Opening. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.  UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing, training or any other fees). UNHCR strongly encourage qualified female applicants for this position. Shortlisted candidates may be required to sit for written test and/or oral interview Interested qualified internal and external candidates meeting the requirements of the Job Descriptions posted online can apply no later than 2 June  2019 Midnight Geneva Time.