Правовий консультант / юрист в проекті Агенції ООН у справах біженців (Одеса)

Project Title: “Community Empowerment and Social Assistance to Refugees and Asylum Seekers”

Organization: NGO “The Tenth of April”, UNHCR implementing partner

Job Title: Legal Advisor

Duty Station: Ukraine, Odesa

Duration: from the earliest convenience till the end of 2018 year 

Contract Type: contract of employment

Background Information

Ukraine is a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees and has relevant national legislative and procedural framework, but provides very limited material assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.

While advocating the improvements of Ukrainian asylum system, the UNHCR under its mandate provides the concerned population with legal and social support through its legal and social implementing partners.

“The Tenth of April” is a non-government organization which implements the UNHCR program of social assistance and refugees’ communities empowerment in Odesa and Odesa oblast in accordance with the UNHCR policies, priorities and operating procedures.

We are seeking a dynamic and proactive team player, with a strong interest in communication and self-development in refugee issues, to complete a nine-month contract employment as a Legal Advisor.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Legal Advisor as the team member is expected to:

• Ensure deep knowledge in national legislation on asylum, refugees protection, social protection issues, protection of persons with specific needs.
• Follow-up on the laws drafts and intervene accordingly in coordination with the UNHCR.
• Advocate for improvements of social rights of the project clients in coordination with the UNHCR.
• Assist asylum seekers and refugees to get access to their social rights exercising.
• Accompany the concerned population to the relevant state bodies (if required).
• Counsel the PoCs on their social rights and state benefits they are eligible for.
• Organize informational sessions for refugees to raise awareness of their rights in comprehensive manner.
• Conduct informational sessions for the team members to strengthen their job-specified legal awareness.
• Provide the team with legal advice, accompany for negotiations with the stakeholders (if required).
• Record in-time manner the information in the database.
• Filling in the reporting documents.
• In collaboration with other team members conduct other activities in order to find the best durable solution for the concerned population.

Qualifications Required:

• General understanding of the UNHCR mission and mandate.
• Master’s degree in Law Sciences.
• Experience in refugee law field is desirable but not essential. The candidate is expected to have strong capacity in self-education and adaption.
• At least 2 years experience in legal counselling and/or teaching field. 
• Strong capacity in legal researching and legal analytical drafting. 
• Keen capacity in writing appeals, complains, requires, and other legal documents.
• Advanced knowledge of oral and written English and Ukrainian.
• Excellent computer skills (MS Office essential).

Skills Required:

• Strong Communication Skills in order to counsel the concerned population in comprehensive manner taking into account their education gaps, cultural peculiarities, and other issues.
• Deep Analytical Skills in order to investigate legal grounds of a problem and find its solution in a timely, efficient manner.
• Empathy in order to express genuine concern for the clients’ needs and willingness to respond.
• Psychological maturity to deal with vulnerable applicants.
• Tolerant behavior in order to respect individuals of various cultures, ages, genders, races, religions, traditions.
• Negotiating Skills in order to facilitate processes with the project stakeholders who have various levels of power and decision-making capacities, to open discussions on sensitive issues.
• Team Working in order to generate problem-solving strategies, provide with constructive feedback, etc.

Location:

The selected Legal Advisor will be based with the project team in Odesa and work under the Project Manager supervision. 

Conditions:

The contract is expected to begin at the earliest convenience and be available for 9 months. The role is full time within 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

How to apply:

Interested applicants should submit their letter of motivation and CV in English to [email protected] indicating “Legal Advisor” in the subject of the email.

The deadline for applications is 01May2018.

“The Tenth of April” seeks to sustain its workforce diversity. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.