Legal Intern

Interns

Apr 12, 2019 (5 years ago) 0 Comments



Organizational Context

Ethiopia has a long standing history of hosting refugees. Ethiopia is hosting one of the largest numbers of refugees on the African continent and continues to be a safe haven for over 900,000 refugees who fled their home. The Government of Ethiopia provides protection to refugees from some 20 countries, with the majority originating from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan respectively. The Government of Ethiopia, maintains an open door policy for refugee inflows into the country. In close cooperation with UNHCR, it allows humanitarian access and protection to those seeking asylum on its territory. On 20 September 2016, during the Refugee Leader’s Summit co-hosted by Ethiopia, the Government of Ethiopia made pledges to further improve the rights and services enjoyed by refugee in the country. These pledges were made a day after the adoption of the New York Declaration and the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) that represents a commitment of 193 states to strengthen their response to refugee situations in a comprehensive manner.

Refugee protection in Ethiopia is provided within the framework of these international and national refuge laws as well as the core international human rights treaties that have been ratified by the country. Ethiopia is a party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and its 1967 Protocol and the 1969 OAU Convention. Recently, the House of People’s Representative passed a new refugee Proclamation that repealed the previous refugee Proc. No. 409/2004. The New Refugee Proclamation, Proc. No. 1110/2019, will provide the required legal framework for the overall refugee protection and assistance in Ethiopia and the implementation of the CRRF and the pledges made by the Government of Ethiopia.

Responsibility

The Legal Intern will work closely with the Associate Legal Officer, and the Associate Protection Officer and other members of the Addis Protection team, under the supervision of the Protection/Legal Analyst.

The intern will undertake the following activities:

  • Conduct legal research to contribute to the preparation of strategies, legal and policy documents, including to support the GoE of Ethiopia in drafting and developing of the Refugee Regulation Refugee Regulation;
  • Conduct legal research and draft reports to support the overall protection activities and protection related thematic areas that have an implication on persons of concern to UNHCR, such as mixed migration, vital events registration and certification, solutions, livelihoods, alternate to camps and access to justice;
  • Assist with informal translations of legal information or other key documents from Amharic to English;
  • Attend meetings and other events as requested as rapporteur or on behalf of the legal team;
  • Perform other duties as required.

Essential Minimum Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate will:

  • Have a University degree in Law;
  • Have excellent drafting and analytical skills;
  • Be fluent in English and Amharic;
  • Have excellent analytical and drafting skills;
  • Have good experience using the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
  • Be a recent graduate (completed studies within one year) or current student in a undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by UNESCO;

Submission of Applications

This vacancy is open for qualified Ethiopians and Non-Ethiopians with a valid work permit from Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.  Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

UNHCR is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

IMPORTANT

Applicants who wish to be considered for this position should send a motivation letter, the most recent factsheet and the new updated P11 Form through the online application system.

Candidates may be required to sit for a test.

Due to the volume of applications only short listed candidates will be invited for interview. 

Refugees – who cares?   We Do.