Back Legal Adviser (National Position) - Propaganda and Legal Culpability

Global Rights Compliance (GRC) is an international legal foundation focused on bringing perpetrators to justice for atrocity crimes. We have a presence in the Hague, London, Washington, and Ukraine.
Global Rights Compliance, the Reckoning Project, and ARTICLE 19 propose to demonstrate a progressive means to hold propagandists accountable for these illegal acts through the courts of law and other international mechanisms, compatible with international and national human rights law.
We seek to produce visual case studies as proof of concept on how the accountability will work based on Russia’s recent information warfare against Ukraine, by defining the legal principles underpinning the prohibition against “propaganda for war” among others. This will grow into a larger effort to bring accountability against propagandists for their role in enabling or committing atrocities, focusing on Ukraine but having broader applicability in this innovation. In this project we bring together lawyers and free speech advocates, media analysts, and journalists, to hold Russia’s propagandists to account in courts of law, and to redefine the public debate to make clear the distinction and nuances between the commission of crimes and forms of speech protected under freedom of expression and information standards.

DUTY STATION: The consultancy will be based in Ukraine with the possibility to work remotely upon mutual agreement.
CONTRACT DURATION: 5 months (full-time job).

OBJECTIVES

GRC is looking for junior lawyers with ICL/ IHL experience to create an evidence base for several case studies that demonstrate the legal liabilities of Russian propagandists for facilitating international crimes and violating human rights in Ukraine and advocate for the use of international law to hold them to account.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Legal and factual research
• Collection of information for investigative purposes
• Assistance in drafting project deliverables
• Facilitation during the meetings and other interactions with the relevant stakeholders, including interpretation as needed
• Other assistance to senior lawyers and the team

ATTRIBUTES

Mandatory

• 2-8 years of relevant legal experience
• Experience in international criminal law and/ or propaganda / free speech issues
• Knowledge of IHL and human rights law
• Flexible and creative; able to work in an unstructured, changeable & fast-moving environment, proactive, anticipating problems, and solutions-orientated.
• Not requiring detailed guidance to get started; can be given a ‘desired outcome’ and figure out the action areas required to reach it
• Practical thinker, able to break down and pursue the elements required to operationalize a strategy
• Administratively competent; able to manage competing urgent demands.
• Fluency in English and Ukrainian
• Practical experience in working with highly sensitive material and an ability to demonstrate the requisite skill in storing, sharing, and working with such material.

Desirable

• Experience working in Ukraine and/or another post-Soviet system
• Competency in Russian
• Degree in law / international law