Gender Specialist – Victim Centered Approach

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Peace and Security is a key area of UN Women's work. At headquarters, the Peace and Security Section leads on UN system-wide coordination on Women, Peace and Security, provides technical and financial support to the peace and security work of UN Women field offices, and implements a number of global initiatives that range from training women on mediation, peacekeepers on preventing and responding to sexual violence, and experts on investigation and documentation of international crimes, to rapidly deploying gender advisors to commissions of inquiry, peace talks, and post-conflict planning and financing processes, supporting gender-responsive public service delivery, and linking women in the community and grassroots organizations to police and other actors to ensure better protection.

A key area of UN-Women’s work is ensuring access to justice for women and the equal application of the rule of law. The impartial, timely and professional investigation of sexual and gender-based crimes is the first step towards justice for survivors. Upon request, UN Women provides national and international investigations, courts and transitional justice mechanisms with the gender expertise they need to ensure that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is documented. Since 2009, UN Women has provided a gender advisor or SGBV investigator to all United Nations commissions of inquiry/fact-finding missions, and other human rights investigative bodies, to the International Criminal Court, and to national and regional investigations.

On 21 December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 71/248, establishing the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes under International Law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011. It is more commonly referred to as “the Mechanism”, or “IIIM”. The Mechanism has been an important ally and partner to UN Women, through its efforts to end impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes (SGBC) in Syria. Since 2018, UN Women has deployed five gender experts to the Mechanism to support the comprehensive adoption of a gender perspective throughout its work.

Further to this support, UN Women will provide a gender specialist to the IIIM, who will work under the supervision of the Deputy Head of the IIIM, to support the Mechanism’s development of a victim-centered approach for its work on justice and accountability in Syria, with a particular focus on victims of SGBC. The IIIM will report to UN Women regarding the results of the work and the outcome of the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide expert technical support to the work of the Mechanism by:
   1. Developing a comprehensive theoretical framework for what a victim-centred approach should include in the context of the IIIM’s mandate, including a review of relevant theoretical frameworks developed by other institutions or actors, other precedents and guidance, specifically taking into account how the IIIM’s victim-centered approach should respond to gender, religious and cultural considerations. Deliver a comprehensive written strategy proposal for the IIIM’s victim-centred approach;
   2. Taking stock of consultations already done by others with Syrian civil society and other groups to distil views and needs specifically relevant to justice and accountability and integrating a gender-perspectives into the IIIM’s victim-centered approach;
   3. Mapping the emergence of survivor associations in the Syrian context, who they represent, gaps, the support needed and the ways the IIIM may be able to assist survivor associations in Syria and globally within the limits of its mandate. Developing a platform for the IIIM’s ongoing engagement with existing and emerging survivor associations;
   4. Providing guidance on existing gaps in information and structures that would need to be filled to inform the IIIM’s victim-centered approach to justice and accountability in the Syrian context, with a specific focus on gendered gaps; and
   5. Developing a plan for targeted consultations to fill the identified gaps and implementing said plan, pending available resources.
   6. Lead partnership-building initiatives:

• Liaise between the IIIM and UN Women on issues of shared concern.

1. Contribute to knowledge management:

• Assist the IIIM in the preparation of an internal report for the IIIM to submit to UN Women regarding the non-confidential results of the work and the outcome of the project and any recommendations for strengthening responses to SGBC in the future.

1. Perform any other duties, as required by the Deputy Head, Syria IIIM.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example  

• FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Strong Knowledge of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, and the gender dimensions of these legal frameworks.
• Proven ability to conduct complex human rights or criminal investigations, including expertise in monitoring and documenting SGBV, an understanding of gender-specific protection concerns, and experience interviewing vulnerable witnesses;
• Good leadership skills
• Strong communication and negotiation skills
• Excellent analytical capacity;
• Strong Knowledge in witness and victim protection and data protection;
• Ability to speak and write in a clear and gender-sensitive language;
• Familiarity with the UN system and knowledge of UN Women.

Required Skills and Experience