Legal Officer, Paris, France

• Organization: UNHCR - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• Country: France
• City: Paris, France
• Office: HCR Paris

 

Closing date: Thursday, 8 November 2018

Job Title: Legal Officer
Job ID: 16100
Location: Paris, France
Salary Grade: P3
Hardship Level: H
Family Location Type: Family
Procedures and Eligibility
Before submitting an application, UNHCR staff members intending to apply to this Job Opening are requested to consult the Recruitment and Assignments Policy (RAP, UNHCR/HCP/2017/2 and the Recruitment and Assignments Administrative Instruction (RAAI), UNHCR/AI/2017/7 OF 15 August 2017.
Duties and Qualifications
Legal Officer
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The Legal Officer is a member of the protection or legal team either at Headquarters (within the Division of International Protection or in a Regional Bureau), or in a Country or Sub-Office and may, depending of the size and structure of the Office, be Head of the Protection or Legal Unit. He/she may report to the Senior Protection or Senior Legal Officer, Head of Sub-Office or to the Assistant Representative for Protection. In smaller Offices, the post may report directly to the Representative. The incumbent has direct supervisory responsibility for protection or legal staff who may include community services, registration, resettlement and education. He/she provides functional protection oversight to information management and programme staff; and supervises protection standards, the provision of legal and policy advice, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery at local or country level. The incumbent also acts as an advisor to senior management in designing a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization to authorities, UN sister agencies, partners and other stakeholders on protection doctrine and policy.
The Legal Officer is relied upon by the Office to plan, lead and coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern. This includes ensuring that operational and advocacy responses in all sectors are shaped in a protection optic, mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. Another important function of the position is to ensure 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, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.
FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT
Accountability

• Protection principles and international law as relevant to persons of concern to UNHCR are promoted.
• Quality legal support and protection advice provided.
• UNHCR's policies, standards and doctrine are consistently and coherently applied, and adapted to the country context. Responsibility
  
• Monitor the development of law and doctrine.
• Advocate for proper interpretation of law and doctrine as well as in the development of standards of protection.
• Provide legal advice on these issues and drafting of position papers and guidelines on pertinent legal and operational issues.
• Provide guidance and support in the formulation of protection strategies.
• Liaise with DIP, Division and Bureau work units and external actors to enhance awareness of protection principles.
• Engage with external partners and stakeholders, including governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, etc, on issues related to legal protection principles and related international law.
• Handle individual cases and situations raising special questions of application or interpretation of international law, refugee and human rights law. Authority
  
• Represent Office in meetings within UNHCR and with external counterparts.
• Prepare protection documents and policies in cooperation with supervisor.
• Participate in the development of project proposals and project implementation. ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
  
• Undergraduate degree (equivalent of a BA/BS) in Law, preferably with focus on Human Rights, Refugee Law and/or International Humanitarian Law plus minimum 6 years of previous work experience relevant to the function. Graduate degree (equivalent of a Master's) plus 5 years or Doctorate degree (equivalent of a PhD) plus 4 years of previous relevant work experience may also be accepted.
• Excellent legal research, analytical and drafting skill.
• Excellent knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English. DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES
  
• Completion of UNHCR learning programmes on protection would be an asset or any other equivalent external courses.
• Knowledge of additional UN languages. This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR Legal Officer positions. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.
  

Position Competencies

• C001L3 - Accountability Level 3
• C002L3 - Teamwork & Collaboration Level 3
• C003L3 - Communication Level 3
• C004L3 - Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 3
• C005L3 - Client & Result Orientation Level 3
• C006L3 - Organizational Awareness Level
• M001L3 - Empowering and Building Trust Level 3
• M002L3 - Managing Performance Level 3
• M003L3 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
• X001L3 - Analytical Thinking Level 3
• X006L3 - Policy Development & Research Level 3
• X007L3 - Political Awareness Level 3

Additional Information
<p>The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.</p>
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See below for this postion's Operational Context
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Additional Information
For those people applying for High Risk Duty Stations, we strongly encourage them – before deciding to apply- to read the country specific security and welfare country profiles which can be found on the Intranet under Support Services - Duty of Care ( https://intranet.unhcr.org/en/support-services/duty-of-care.html). Ensuring staff are better informed is part of the increased attention UNHCR is paying to Duty of Care.
Staff after having applied to High Risk Duty Stations will have access to country specific information webinars with Field Safety Section (FSS) and Staff Welfare Section (SWS) colleagues and provided with a tool to test their psychological preparedness for serving in High Risk Duty Stations. Applicants who applied for a position in a High Risk country will receive, after the deadline for applications has expired, a joint invitation from the Staff Welfare Section (SWS) and the Field Safety Section (FSS) to participate in these webinars. During the Webinars, latest updates on security and well-being will be provided, and FSS and SWS will address questions raised by participants. Applicants are highly encouraged to benefit, when applicable, from all measures as they provide most up-to-date security and well-being information helpful to assess staff's readiness to serve in a High Risk Duty Station. A Staff Welfare Officer will also be available, if and when required, to discuss with interested applicants the results of the psychological preparedness tool as well as readiness for assignment in High Risk Duty Stations.
Desirable Attributes

• The incumbent is the UNHCR officer responsible for liaising with the first instance body of France assessing the asylum applications, i.e. the Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (OFPRA) as well as for representing UNHCR by working closely with the second instance specialised Court i.e. the Cour nationale du droit d'asile (CNDA) and for ensuring the quality participation of adjudicators appointed by UNHCR.
• At OFPRA the contacts on the asylum and statelessness determination procedures are at the highest levels, including all heads of divisions. Likewise, at CNDA UNHCR entertains contacts with the overall president of the court as well as with the judge-presidents of the different chambers. Furthermore, the incumbent will be responsible for selecting, training, and managing more than 83 UNHCR adjudicators (consultants), all of whom are legal experts and sit as UNHCR designated judges at the CNDA.
• In view of these responsibilities, the incumbent must have a significant experience with regard to refugee status determination, including interviewing techniques, inclusion and exclusion determination as well as country of origin information.
• French nationality is required for this post because of the activities performed by the incumbent as an adjudicator at the CNDA. Currently, only French citizens can act as adjudicators as they render justice on behalf of the French People.

Desirable Attributes

• The incumbent must have a strong academic background, an advanced degree in Law (Masters in Law/LLM), a very good knowledge of French domestic law (particularly administrative, aliens and refugee law), to be able to provide guidance to the adjudicators, many of whom are experienced Law professors.
• To be able to provide specialized quality advice the incumbent will have a minimum of 5 years professional experience in dealing with eligibility and legal issues and procedures concerning aliens and refugees in France, preferably through previous engagement with OFPRA and CNDA as adjudicator.
• Furthermore, due to the strategic position of OFPRA and CNDA in the asylum system in France, the Legal Officer is also in charge of monitoring the adoption and implementation of laws and decrees in France, as well as France's position in the context of the reform of the asylum system in European Union, coordinating UNHCR's comments and relaying them to high-level institutional partners. In this light, in-depth knowledge of the EU asylum acquis and experience in the EU legal context will be essential.

Current Situation

• In 2017 there were more than 100,000 asylum applications in France. During the first months of 2018, the number of asylum applications has increased by 17,8% as compared to the same period in 2018. As of August 2018, OFPRA has registered 57,879 asylum applications. The recognition rate is at 25,7% at first instance and 33,4% at second instance.
• In September 2018 a new law on asylum and migration has been adopted, which requires shorter deadlines for the different steps of the asylum procedure and increased capacities at both first and second instance.
• OFPRA has performed an increasingly important role with regard to the selection of refugees for resettlement, in close collaboration with UNHCR. This has required a number of resettlement missions in countries of first asylum, some of which are transit countries in the context of the Mediterranean situation, for which France chairs a core group of countries.
• In France, the appeal procedure for asylum applications is based since 1952 on a unique model, through a specialized jurisdiction in the field of asylum, the CNDA, which includes in its collegial chambers adjudicators nominated by UNHCR Representative, after advice of the Vice president of the Council of State.
• With the increase of asylum-applications, the number of adjudicators has increased reaching 83 in 2018 and with the expectation that the number will go beyond 100 in 2019.
• UNHCR and the first and second instance eligibility bodies are strengthening their collaboration in the field of training and are stepping up their efforts to modernize procedures and embed quality assurance mechanisms.
• In this context, UNHCR's cooperation with OFPRA and CNDA requires the full time engagement of an expert Legal Officer, with the support of the Protection Unit and of the Representative.

Working and Living Conditions

• Paris is a modern capital city with all necessary communications and good living conditions. However like other Capital City in Europe, accommodation is expensive.
• Paris is a major European city which hold a full range of health and educational facilities and availability of goods and services;
• Public transport network is good, as well as air connections to all over the world;
• Commuting times to and from the office may be lengthy, depending on where accommodation is;
• Regular travel within France, to Monaco, and to other European countries is to be expected

Security Considerations
Although the city is classified as category H family duty station, Paris has been periodically exposed to different terrorist attacks since Nov 2014, state of emergency has been maintained by the government in the country since then and terrorist threat level has been constantly kept at the elevated/higher level..
The security and political situation in France is stable and calm;
Additional Factors

• In addition to the essential requirements as highlighted in the profile statement, in view of the fact that the Legal Officer is involved in a range of training activities on behalf of UNHCR, previous training experience within UNHCR or externally would be highly desirable.
• Drafting skills in both French and English will also be required.

Closing Date
Please note that the closing date for vancancies in the Addendum 1 is Thursday 8 November 2018 (midnight Geneva time)