INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

The Representation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Greece invites qualified candidates to apply for the following Job Opening:

Job Opening ID: 30741

Job Posting Title: Associate Protection Officer

Duration of appointment: One-year Fixed-term Appointment (with possibility of extension).

Position number: 10014091

Category and Grade: National Professional Officer, NOB

Duty Station: Athens

Closing date: 8 November 2021 (Midnight, Geneva)

Operational Context

Nature of the position

Persons of concern to UNHCR seeking to access Greece’s territory and protection face strict border control practices influenced also by the overall EU policy and regulations for border control. The candidate should have experience in border management issues and the prevention of refoulement doctrine and principles. S/he should be skilled to work, develop relationships and build trust with law enforcement authorities, while the understanding of the political challenges linked to the EU border management, would be necessary. A good knowledge of and experience working with the other human rights actors (State HR institutions and NGOS), active both at national and European level, will be also necessary. The candidate should also demonstrate skills and experience to organize and coordinate capacity-building activities (e.g. trainings) for State authorities and more broadly, while proved skills in monitoring and communication with PoC is required.

Living and Working Conditions

Currently, some 96,000 asylum-seekers and refugees are hosted in Greece. So far in 2021, over 6,300 people have arrived either by sea or land - a significant reduction compared to previous years. UNHCR supports the Government who coordinates the refugee and migrant response in the development of policy, capacity building and targeted interventions in the areas of reception, asylum procedures and for finding durable solutions, with a focus on integration.

Within these 96,000 persons, there are currently almost 5,800 refugees and asylum-seekers on the Aegean islands. The Greek government will open new `Multipurpose Reception and Identification Centres’ on the five Aegean islands hosting asylum-seekers, namely Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos. The first such centre was inaugurated on Samos in September 2021.

UNHCR also has multiple interventions in core areas of Child Protection, GBV and areas addressing specific needs of persons of concern. The Office retains a readiness to respond to emergencies and new arrivals, with a focus on immediate support to the most vulnerable.

UNHCR Greece plays a strong advocacy role since continued support is needed particularly from EU countries and EU institutions in providing immediate protection to those most at-risk through sufficient resources, ensuring capacity in the country and responsibility-sharing. UNHCR, along with other actors, fully supports the relocation process led by the Greek government and supported by the EU, of unaccompanied children, vulnerable asylum-seeking families and refugees. To date, some 4,381 people have been relocated from Greece to 14 EU countries. UNHCR will continue to assist Greek authorities in responding to both short and long-term challenges.

Athens is a family duty station. In accordance with UNDSS security risk assessment, the whole Greek operation is classified as Security Level 2 (low). Security Clearance is required for travelling in the country.

Duties and Qualifications

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer or the Senior Protection Officer. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community-based protection registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.

The Associate Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of persons of concern. 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.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

• Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
• Promote International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
• Foster their consistent and coherent interpretation and application through mainstreaming in all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations.
• Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
• Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
• Conduct eligibility and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
• Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
• Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy to ensure programmes use a child protection systems approach.
• Contribute to a country-level education plan.
• Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
• Oversee and manage individual protection cases, including those on GBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
• Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
• Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern.
• Participate in the organisation and implementation of participatory assessments and methodologies throughout the operations management cycle and promote AGD sensitive programming with implementing and operational partners.
• Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
• Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
• Promote and integrate community-based approaches to protection and contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
• Support activities in the area of risk management related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, fraud, case-processing, data protection, and human rights due diligence at country level.
• Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
• Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
• Negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR.
• Decide priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
• Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
• Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience

Years of Experience / Degree Level

• 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education

Desirable:

• Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses

Desirable:

• Protection Learning Programme

Language Requirements

• Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.

Relevant Job Experience

Essential:

• Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles.

Desirable:

• Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.

Functional Skills

Essential:

• PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
• LE-International Refugee Law
• PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)

Desirable:

• PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
• MG-Projects management
• PR-PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
• PR-International Humanitarian Law
• PR-Protection and mixed-movements
• PR-Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Operations & IDPs Status/Rights/Obligation
• PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
• PR-Community-based Protection
• MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation

Competencies

All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below:

Core Competencies:

• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:

• Judgement and Decision Making
• Empowering and Building Trust

Cross-Functional Competencies:

• Analytical Thinking
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
• Political Awareness

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. 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.

Eligible Applicants

• This position is open to all applicants (internals/externals).
• Recruitment against this position is on a local basis.
• Candidates for positions in the National Professional Officer category must be nationals of Greece (primary nationality).

Duration of Appointment

• One-year Fixed-term Appointment (with possibility of extension).
• Expected start date of this assignment: 01/01/2022.

Additional Information

The closing date for submission is 8 November 2021 (Midnight, Geneva).

• No late applications will be accepted.
• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
• Shortlisted candidates might be required to sit for a written test and will have to undergo an oral interview.

Kindly note that only electronic applications will be considered:

• Internal applicants (Group 1) are invited to apply online through the MSRP portal (self-service) and fill in the letter of interest.
• External applicants are invited to apply using the external Careers pages www.unhcr.org/careers and https://www.unhcr.org/gr-jobs/ .
• Should you encounter technical issues or have questions during the online application, please contact the HR Unit at well before the deadline.

UNHCR is an equal opportunity employer and does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing, training or any other fees).

UNHCR is committed to diversity and welcomes applications from qualified candidates regardless of disability, gender identity, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour or ethnic and national origins, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

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