Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeFellow
Target Start Date2023-10-02
Job Posting End DateSeptember 25, 2023
Terms of ReferenceUNHCR invites applications of candidates to be selected for a law and policy fellowship, to work with our legal or protection teams in a variety of areas. Law and policy fellows will lead one or more protection initiatives and should indicate areas of interest and experience in their cover letter. UNHCR anticipates that fellows will have a particular focus area; previous legal fellows have worked on projects in topic areas such as: statelessness; immigration detention; international law training; and southern border legal aid.
Law and policy fellows’ work will fit within the UNHCR Protection and Solutions team’s overall protection strategy. PSU seeks to ensure protection of asylum-seekers, refugees, and stateless persons in the United States. PSU provides comments on proposed legislation and regulations, submits amicus briefs on select international legal issues and monitors U.S. government compliance with international standards. In addition, PSU advises the U.S. government on improving the domestic asylum system both at land borders and within the United States. PSU also focuses on regional protection issues, i.e. in the Americas (including Haitian and Cuban maritime interdiction issues) in part because of externalization risks but also given U.S. diplomatic engagement with other asylum countries throughout the hemisphere and related bilateral and multilateral initiatives that direct impact the ability of refugees and asylum seekers to seek and obtain protection within the region. PSU also focuses on the region when U.S. protection and migration policy impacts mixed migratory movements in the hemisphere. In the realm of statelessness, PSU writes Stateless Advisory Opinions and Letters of Support, and conducts trainings and public presentations on statelessness and nationality to a range of audiences. PSU also gathers information on protection situations in detention, at the U.S. southern border, and in the U.S. immigration courts, and works to develop pragmatic policy and practice alternatives. Additionally, PSU provides information on the laws, policies, and procedures for seeking asylum and related protection in the United States to persons of concern to UNHCR. Throughout all of these endeavors, UNHCR maintains close communication with government partners at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and other agencies to ensure that our cooperative relationship is maintained.
When submitting an application, prospective fellows are encouraged to detail their experience in the immigration and refugee field as well as which skills and substantive areas of knowledge they wish to develop during their fellowship period. Each fellow may engage in one or several different thematic areas; areas of potential thematic engagement include:
• • Law and policy analysis at the intersection of international and domestic law: the fellow will support the team that aims to bring US domestic law on refugee and asylum issues in line with international standards. Work can include engagement in international treaty body reporting, strategic litigation, and regulatory comment.
• • Regional protection policy (fluent Spanish required): the fellow will support PSU’s growing work on protection policy and practice with UNHCR operations in Latin America (as relates to links to U.S. border policy); US maritime protection and Northern Caribbean policy and practice; and the interplay between U.S. border arrivals, U.S. domestic responses, and U.S. regional engagement with Latin American states, particularly Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. This fellow will engage with UNHCR policy and / or regional protection instruments and initiatives such as MIRPS, certain tangible ements resulting from the Los Angeles Declaration of 2022 and the Puebla Process.
• • Statelessness: the fellow will support on all aspects of engagement with statelessness in the United States, including legislative and executive advocacy. This fellowship will involve some individual casework in coordination with private or pro bono attorneys representing stateless individuals.
• • Detention: the fellow will work with the team that advocates for the reduction in the use of detention for asylum-seekers in the United States and seeks improvements in detention and alternatives to detention (ATD) policy and practice. Work will involve tracking and analyzing policy developments and assisting with individual cases.
• Individual case system: the fellow will play an integral role in assisting individuals who contact UNHCR in search of legal assistance or protection information or support (including asylum-
• seekers, stateless people, and those in need of resettlement). The fellow will lead on certain aspects of the individual case system according to prior experience and interest.
PSU Resettlement Fellowship
The resettlement fellow will assist staff in working on projects concerning refugees in the U.S. and globally with a primary focus on facilitating resettlement of refugees out of the Northern Caribbean region to various resettlement countries, including and especially the United States. Under supervision of a resettlement expert, the fellow will: i) conduct protection assessment interviews with persons of concern located in the Northern Caribbean region, primarily in the Dominican Republic; ii) conduct thorough country of origin research and research relevant laws of third countries; iii) assist the resettlement team in drafting Resettlement Registration Forms for refugees within the Northern Caribbean region, including drafting legal analyses of underlying refugee claims; iv) conduct resettlement interviews with refugees in the Northern Caribbean region and draft the corresponding Resettlement Registration Form. The fellow will be in regular and frequent correspondence with refugees as part of case management responsibilities. Additional responsibilities will include providing case management support through accurately updating resettlement case information in UNHCR’s internal electronic database, monitoring and tracking resettlement activities, and helping ensure that refugees are kept informed of their resettlement case status. Assistance planning field work in the Caribbean region and translating necessary correspondence and documentation may be required. In the U.S. policy context, the Fellow will conduct research and writing projects on current issues in refugee law and policy related to resettlement and reception and integration of refugees in the United States. Finally, the fellow may be required to observe and report on resettlement-related meetings and conferences with stakeholders. Fluency in Spanish is required for the resettlement fellowship.
Qualifications and Experience Required
• • Must be a 2023 degree candidate or recent graduate from a U.S. law school.
• • Must have completed coursework in international law; refugee law; and/or human rights; additional coursework in U.S. immigration law preferable.
• • Preference for experience in U.S. asylum; refugee law; and/or other topics related to refugees, asylum-seekers, and statelessness.
• • Experience with legal clinics in law school, or other forms of direct service experience with asylum-seekers or statelessness would be particularly helpful.
• • Preference for developed Spanish language skills (essential for fellows wishing to work on regional issues and for resettlement fellow).
• • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• • Detail-oriented, with strong research and legal analysis skills.
• • Self-directed, with ability to multi-task and prioritize with minimal supervision.
Terms of Fellowship
• • Candidates must demonstrate a guaranteed funding source for the one-year period of the fellowship in their cover letters. If funding is conditioned to being selected for the fellowship, candidates should indicate that in their cover letters. Candidates will not receive any form of funding or financial support from UNHCR. In recent years, many successful fellows have obtained funding through public interest post-graduate fellowships offered by their respective law schools, though funding opportunities may also exist through other organizations.
• • Candidates are responsible for their housing, their legal stay in the United States, health insurance, and any other related documentation that will be required by UNHCR.
• • The fellowship will begin in September 2023, or another time to be negotiated, and will last for 12 months.
• • A fellowship does not create any expectation or entitlement to employment with UNHCR at the conclusion of the fellowship.
• • Candidates may apply for more than one of these fellowship positions. In their cover letters, candidates may indicate their preference for a fellowship that focuses on only one thematic area, or that encompasses several different thematic focus areas. Candidates may also signal in their cover letter if they have no preference and prefer UNHCR to match them with specific needs of the PSU team according to their background. Candidates who do not specify a preference will be evaluated for all fellowship positions.
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Skills
EducationMasters of Arts (MA): Law (Required)
Certifications
Work Experience
Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance