UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full-time position within the UNHCR in our UNHCR Guyana team. The successful candidate will be based in UNHCR’s Guyana Office in Georgetown. UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.
Title: Associate Protection Officer
Duty Station: Georgetown, Guyana
Duration: initially till 31 December 2020 (with possibility of extension)
Contract Type: International specialist, UNOPS IICA-1 (equivalent to P2)
Closing date: 6 May 2020 (midnight Geneva time)
Start date: ASAP
Organisational context
Since 2018, Guyana has been hosting a growing number of refugees and migrants. While POCs are mostly from Venezuela, there are also non-Venezuelans seeking asylum mainly from Cuba and other countries. It is expected that the total refugee and asylum seeker population in need of protection and assistance in Guyana will reach over 31,000 people in 2020. Guyana is not a State Party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees nor its 1967 Protocol. Furthermore, Guyana is not a State Party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, nor to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The issue of immigration is new to the country. While the Government of Guyana has been maintaining a commendable open-door policy to Venezuelans, the status of non-Venezuelans is more ambiguous. Guyana has traditionally been a country of emigration since it achieved independence in 1966. Guyana’s limited capacity to absorb inflows of refugees and migrants poses challenges for the Government to manage arrivals in a safe and orderly manner and to provide adequate services. The growing numbers of refugees and migrants from Venezuela has increased the pressure over the already scarce resources in the country. In the current context, Guyana needs to be supported in providing meaningful reception/integration to new arrivals.
The position
UNHCR in Guyana is looking for an Associate Protection Officer to join the team who will support the response for in particular non Venezuelans in Guyana.
Under the direct supervision of the Associate Protection Officer and the overall guidance of the Senior Liaison Officer and in coordination with the Protection Officer in Port of Spain, the successful candidate will: Support management to ensure an effective protection strategy is deployed for non-Venezuelan refugees and asylum seekers.
The candidate will:
Support the transition of duties and responsibilities for this caseload from the Regional Office and assist in the implementation and deployment of a protection strategy for non-Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers, encompassing statelessness, age, gender, diversity (AGD), registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration & community-based protection. The incumbent will also participate in field missions and assist in reporting, drafting and documentation of standard operating procedures as required.
Duties and responsibilities
· Under the overall guidance of the supervisor, facilitate and support initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant national institutions, NGOs and implementing partners on protection of persons of concern to UNHCR. Promote awareness and understanding of relevant International, Regional and National Laws for refugees and asylum seekers;
· Monitor status and situation of non-Venezuelan asylum seekers and refugees, including individual protection cases as necessary, and seek to develop, implement and monitor inclusive community-based protection strategies on their behalf. 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;
· Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
· Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
· Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; including liaising with competent authorities to ensure the processing of asylum applications including the issuance of asylum seeker certificates in line with established SOPs;
· Support in assessment and monitoring of Venezuelans and of HCR partners in remote locations;
· Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services
· Provides support to the drafting of guidance documents and SOPs for non-Venezuelans;
· Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
· Support in any other activities identified and perform other related duties as required.
Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required
The ideal candidate will have:
· 3 years relevant experience with undergraduate degree in the areas of Political science; International relations; law; or other relevant field;
· Experience in engaging with government asylum bodies, NGOs or other external stakeholders on asylum-related issues in International Refugee Law, IHRL and IHL is desirable;
· Excellent writing and analytical skills;
· Fluency in English and Spanish is essential (to facilitate dialogue and interaction with Persons of concern)
· Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills
Location
The successful candidate will be based with the team in Georgetown, Guyana.
Conditions
It is a full-time role with working hours from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Thursday (37.5 hours per week, with 45 minutes break for lunch). On Fridays, the official working hours are from 8.00 am to 3:00pm.
This vacancy is archived.