Associate Protection Officer, JPO, Bangkok, for nationals of the USA At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

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.

– Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
– Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P2/NOB – 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
Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field

Certificates and/or Licenses
Protection Learning Programme
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

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
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
MG-Project Management
PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
CO-Drafting and Documentation
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

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.

Desired Candidate Profile

Operational Context:

UNHCR Thailand is a Multi-Country Operation covering Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand is neither party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol nor to the Statelessness Conventions; there is no formal legal framework for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers. However, Thailand hosts about 91,000 refugees from Myanmar at the border, with about 5,000 refugees and asylum seekers living in urban areas and over 500,000 stateless persons. There are significant challenges in maintaining and expanding the asylum and protection space in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam while seeking durable solutions.

In accordance with the Royal Thai Government’s policy, it has been hosting Myanmar refugees for over two decades in 9 temporary shelters (camps) along the border. The situation at the border includes one of the most protracted refugee situations, as some arrived in Thailand in 1984. The situation has been exacerbated, however, by the coup in Myanmar in February 2021, which erased gains made on the facilitated voluntary return and has led to displacements both within the country and neighbouring countries, including Thailand. UNHCR Thailand has been responding to new displacement into Thailand in a range of ways, including via coordination of an Inter-Sector Working Group and more discreet protection interventions. For those hosted in the 9 temporary shelters, preparatory work is ongoing for large-scale resettlement activities.

In contrast to the Myanmar refugees accommodated in camps, the RTG does not formally engage with urban asylum-seekers and refugees. If they do not have a visa for Thailand they are treated as illegal and at constant risk of arrest and detention. UNHCR currently processes asylum requests from this caseload under its mandate, although there are ongoing efforts by the RTG to establish a National Screening Mechanism, which will serve as a quasi-asylum system. Priority concerns for UNHCR include the safety and security of asylum-seekers and refugees as well as their economic well-being. The challenge is increasing with growing numbers. Durable solutions for the group are very limited, with resettlement being the only viable option at present.

The UNHCR Representation in Thailand has developed a multi-year strategy to address overall legal and social protection needs through increased reliance on and expansion of a community-based protection model and gradually away from an RSD/Resettlement protection model. As such, the urban protection unit will continue to expand its community-based protection activities. To meet the ever-increasing daily protection and community services needs of this large and complex urban refugee and asylum seeker population, the Office requires an additional international staff member who understands and can operate effectively in the current legal context in Thailand (absence of refugee protection/laws, high likelihood of arrest/detention, risk of refoulement, etc.), and who can maintain and build strong relations with refugee/asylum seeker communities, as well as both NGO and government counterparts.

In addition to working on the urban caseload, the JPO may be required to lead child protection capacity-building efforts related to the large-scale, multi-year resettlement programme for Thailand’s camp-based Myanmar refugee population. This will focus, inter-alia, on strengthening capacity to implement best interests procedures.

While the position is based in Bangkok, the JPO may be required to travel to field offices within Thailand. The incumbent needs to expect and be comfortable with undertaking missions where required. Persons with any travel constraints should not consider applying for this position. The JPO will also be required to attend NGO coordination meetings and UN thematic working groups pertaining to specific UNHCR Protection programmes in Thailand.

This job is advertised in the frame of the JPO Programme and reserved exclusively to candidates with nationality of the United States of America.

Required languages (expected Overall ability is at least B2 level):

English

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Desired languages

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Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

Nature of Position:

Living and Working Conditions:

Additional Qualifications

Skills

CO-Drafting and Documentation, MG-Project Management, PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD), PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation, PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement, PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination, PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards, PR-International Humanitarian Law, PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators

Education

Bachelor of Arts (BA): International Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Political Science

Certifications

HCR Protection Learning Program – UNHCR

Work Experience

Competencies

Accountability, Analytical thinking, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration

UNHCR Salary Calculator

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

Additional Information

Functional clearance

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance