International Consultancy Service to develop a mapping and documentation methodology on human rights violations to support transitional justice processes in South Sudan.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) are engaged in a 24-months project led by UNICEF and implemented in Aweil, Bentiu, Bor, Pibor and Juba (South Sudan). The project seeks to benefit target communities, especially children and youth, through improved security, strengthened dialogue and trust building mechanisms and through accountable justice structures – at national, state and local levels. In order to achieve the project’s objective (Breaking the cycle of violence: rehabilitating justice and accountability mechanisms for the transformation of survivors and perpetrators of violent conflict into change agents for peace), and to strengthen accountability measures of the justice sector, a coordinated and cohesive approach towards mapping and documenting human rights violations is critical.

South Sudan has suffered nearly four decades of armed violence which had devastating consequences for the country and its people. Since 2013, civilians have borne the brunt of a new armed conflict. They were subjected to widespread human rights violations and abuses including, killing, injury, abduction, sexual violence as well as destruction of properties. Vast amount of these human rights violations may constitute crimes under the law of South Sudan and the most serious violations and abuses amount to international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On 17 and 26 August 2015, the leadership of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) signed the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) after months of conflict, which resulted in the death of tens of thousands and the displacement of over two million people, including 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 607,608 refugees.  In July 2016, fighting aging erupted in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, increasing the figures to 1.9 million people internally displaced by violence and more than 2 million refugees, 1.3 million of whom fled the renewed violence. After 2016, the political conflict continued with different resulting in the displacement of 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers in neighboring countries, and at least 1.6 million were internally displaced as of December 2020. Since 2017, at least 360,000 refugees have, however, returned to South Sudan and more than 1.3 million IDPs have spontaneously gone back to the areas of origin or alternative locations.

While the overall number of violations and abuses attributed to conventional parties to the conflict has decreased since the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018, entrenched armed violence affecting civilians at subnational level has significantly increased throughout 2020.

The Chapter V of the 2018 R-ARCSS “on transitional justice, accountability, reconciliation and healing provides” outlines a roadmap for sustainable peace by addressing the crimes and atrocities committed during the course of South Sudan’s conflict, through the establishment of three complementary institutions: the Hybrid Court for South Sudan (HCSS); the Commission on Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing (CTRH); and the Compensation and Reparations Authority (CRA). Although the implementation of Chapter V has been delayed since the signing of the R-ARCSS, on 29 January 2021, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting announced that the Cabinet of Ministers had reportedly instructed the Ministry of Justice to “start the process of establishing” transitional justice institutions and mechanisms provided for under Chapter V of the R-ARCSS.

The TJ roadmap outlined in the R-ARCSS refers to the full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past abuses, in order to ensure accountability, serve justice, and achieve reconciliation. It is grounded on the fundamental rights of the victims of human rights violations, namely the right to an effective remedy, the right to know what occurred during conflict or repressive periods (the right to truth), the right to reparation and the right to protection from the recurrence of future violations. However, the specific mechanisms envisaged in Chapter V of the R-ARCSS are not fully inclusive as other mechanisms, such as national justice system and customary/traditional/restorative justice processes, can also significantly contribute to close the impunity and accountability gaps for serious human rights violations and international crimes in South Sudan;

In this context, coordinated and cohesive documentation of violations of human rights and humanitarian laws is essential to break the cycle of violence and to ensure the success of any transitional justice process. Documentation of violations of human rights in South Sudan has been and continues to be undertaken by several entities, including the United Nations (UNMISS, OHCHR, the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, the UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan, the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) for Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC) and the Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV)), the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan (AUCSS), the South Sudan Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Documentation Initiatives for South Sudan and international and national non-governmental organizations. Despite the significant achievements of the CHRSS and HRDI documentation initiative, who developed their own investigation methodologies and established digital documentation archives, so far there has not been an overall coordinated and cohesive approach to the documentation of human rights violations adopted by all above-mentioned actors. This is essential to a chronological recording and comprehensive analysis of violations of human rights and violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, contributing to strengthening accountability measure of the justice sector.

Thus, OHCHR is looking for a home-based consultant, available to travel to Juba, Unity and Jonglei as required, and familiar with the context of South Sudan to support in filling identified gaps in the documentation and mapping of human rights violations in South Sudan. Specifically, the consultant will be expected to design a coordinated and cohesive methodology which will support future transitional justice mechanisms, including the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the consultancy

• The overall purpose of the consultancy is to design a common methodology to support an independent and impartial mapping exercise of human rights violations that will support future transitional justice mechanisms in South Sudan. This should include lessons learned from similar exercises in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.

Scope of worksIn order to achieve the objectives, the tasks of the consultant will include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

• Compile lessons learned from other violations mapping exercises and apply these to the South Sudanese context;
• Collect and conduct an overview of secondary sources that are publicly available, necessary to be compiled for the mapping exercise;
• Assess relevant documents and consult stakeholders to design the methodology for the violations mapping exercise, including a clear purpose, timeframe, type of violations, type and scope of sources, standards of proof and admissibility, data collection methods, data storage options and analysis, etc that are realistic and contextually relevant for transitional justice in South Sudan;
• Recommend secure databases and analysis tools that can be used for the mapping exercise;
• Assess the risks of conducting the violations mapping exercise and propose mitigating strategies;
• Conduct desk review documentation as a means of establishing a sample data base;
• Develop an inception report and work plan to guide the deliverables of this consultancy;
• Produce deliverables in accordance with the requirements and timeframes of the Terms of Reference.

Methodology

• The consultant will be expected to describe in detail the proposed methodology to achieve expected results;
• All documents and materials developed must be treated as confidential;
• Implementation of the contract must adhere to the principles of respect for human rights, including the human rights of people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, and reflect the diversity of this population;
• A risk assessment, with mitigation measures, must be developed by the Service Provider to prevent risks to participants and others in the course of implementation of this contract. The Service Provider must act with due diligence in the elaboration and implementation of risk mitigation measures.

ResultsThe consultant will produce the following deliverables:

• Inception report and work plan:The inception report will describe how the consultant will carry out the consultancy including her or his workplan for the implementation of the inception phase. It will provide preliminary answers to some of the guiding questions and propose any changes to the tasks needed to achieve the objective of the project including development a detailed work. The inception report, including the workplan, will be presented to and discussed with OHCHR (final approver), and other relevant stakeholders.
• Mapping methodology (draft and final):The consultant will also deliver a methodology for a chronological and comprehensive violations’ mapping and documentation project relevant for the context of South Sudan. The methodology will be delivered in the form and will function as the starting point for and guide to a future mapping team. The methodology should provide a clear rationale for the design. The draft methodology will be presented to UNMISS HRD and any stakeholders that HRD deems relevant to include for questions and comments prior to finalization.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations;
• Strong communication, team building, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
• Demonstrates experience with violations mapping exercises;
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
• Shows pride in work and in achievements;
• Demonstrates conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations

Communication

• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately;
• Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;
• Tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience;
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Planning & Organizing:

• Organizes and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships;
• Plans, coordinates and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines;
• Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and partners to achieve the planned results.

Technological Awareness

• Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitation of technology to
• the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks;
• Shows willingness to learn new technology.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Advanced degree in human rights law, international law, social science or related field. Bachelor degree with more than 10 years working/ consulting in transitional justice is also acceptable.

Experience

• At least 10 years of relevant work experience with demonstrated experience related to developing methodology and documentation of human rights violations in armed conflicts is required.
• The Consultant must have experience in transitional justice including in-depth knowledge of documenting human rights violations for accountability, truth-telling processes and commissions, reparations and memorialization.
• The Consultant should demonstrate experience working with secondary sources and with a variety of stakeholders who can be reached out virtually.
• Experience working in a conflict/post-conflict environment and knowledge of the South Sudanese conflict is an asset.

Language

• Fluency in Spoken and Written English.

Institutional arrangements

• The consultant will report to the Director of OHCHR / UNMISS Human Rights Division (or his designate), who will review and approve the delivery of outputs.
• The Service Provider will work in cooperation with OHCHR’s “Breaking the Cycle of Violence” Project Officer, as required;
• The Service Provider will provide brief updates on a regular basis - and no less than every two weeks - to the Director of OHCHR / UNMISS Human Rights Division (or his designate), and to the Project Officer as required. Updates will be provided in writing and through virtual meetings/calls, as required;
• The Service Provider will be required to incorporate feedback received from OHCHR on deliverables and outputs;
• Data collection: the Service Provider will handle all aspects of the data collection process;
• The Service Provider may not (sub-) contract (partial or total) production of (some or all) deliverables under this contract without the express agreement of the Director of OHCHR / UNMISS Human Rights Division (or his designate);
• When sub-contracts are entered into within the scope of this contract, with the express agreement of the Director of OHCHR/UNMISS Human Rights Division (or his designate), the Service Provider will be solely responsible for the implementation of such subcontracts and the impact of any failures of sub-contractors to implement these.

Payment Schedule

• Inception report and work plan (draft) 8 working days from the beginning of the consultancy (signature contract date). This must include feedback from OHCHR. 10%
• Inception report and work plan (final) 3 working days to finalise the draft inception report/WP 5%
• Mapping methodology (draft) 45 working days (including feedback from OHCHR to the draft report) 35%
• Final report, including the final mapping methodology developed 8 working days 50 %

Technical proposal shall comprise of the following:Personal CV or P11, indicating all prior experience with similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references

Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.

Technical evaluation criteria

• The criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience is outlined below:
• Advanced degree in human rights law, international law, social science or related field. Bachelor degree with more than 10 years working/ consulting in transitional justice is also acceptable. 30
• At least 10 years of relevant work experience with demonstrated experience related to developing methodology and documentation of human rights violations in armed conflicts is required. The Consultant must have experience in transitional justice including in-depth knowledge of documenting human rights violations for accountability, truth-telling processes and commissions, reparations and memorialization. The Consultant should demonstrate experience working with secondary sources and with a variety of stakeholders who can be reached out virtually. Experience working in a conflict/post-conflict environment and knowledge of the South Sudanese conflict is an asset. 30
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required. 10

NOTE: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation will be requested to submit financial proposals and considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation (total 30 points)

All technically qualified candidates will be scored up to 30 points based on the formula provided below.The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:

p = y (x/z)

Where:p = Financial score of the financial proposal being evaluatedx = Cost of the lowest priced proposaly = maximum number of points for the financial proposal price of the lowest priced proposalz = price of the proposal being evaluated.

UNDP 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.