Senior Case Building Analyst At Global Rights Compliance

GRC is an international human rights law and development firm based in the Hague, committed to promoting international law, particularly international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights. Our team works on a number of projects globally, in collaboration with governments to strengthen adherence to the international rule of law, particularly in conflict or post-conflict settings.

The project
Launched in October 2021, GRC supports the Free Yezidi Foundation in documenting crimes committed in the course of the 2014 genocide perpetrated by ISIS against the Yezidi people in Iraqi Kurdistan. GRC and FYF will take documented evidence and build it into case files and narrative briefs for transmission to accountability mechanisms seeking for example to exercise universal
jurisdictions. The project will also support UNITAD’s mandate. It is funded by the US Department of State, Office of Global Criminal Justice.

Context
The Yezidi genocide in August 2014 is one of the most notorious events of the ISIS conflict. Neither the ICC nor any other international court has jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes and Iraq itself does not operate an atrocity-crimes jurisdiction, meaning that the horrific crimes committed by ISIS are not prosecuted in Iraq’s domestic courts. The best chance that the Yezidi have of achieving justice is through universal jurisdiction prosecutions in foreign countries. This project is designed to support
that process and elevate the importance of the international rule of law over impunity.

Impact
This project will advance the prospects of justice for the victims and survivors of the ISIS genocide of Yezidi. It will also seek to investigate and propose solutions to one of the principal challenges facing universal jurisdiction prosecutions, namely locating targets in universal prosecution jurisdictions using innovative digital investigative techniques.

The position
We are looking for a candidate to lead the analysis of evidence compiled from notes of interviews and other evidence feeds and to develop “perpetrator dossiers”, as the primary output, for submission to a variety of sources pursuant to a universal jurisdiction prosecution. The Case Building Analyst will also be responsible for producing an “active learning study”, a document to guide international and grassroots CSOs in conducting investigations leading to universal jurisdiction prosecutions, in particular
focussing on the identification and location of suspects of interest. The “active learning study” will use the project’s own lessons learned from its investigative work as a practical case study underpinning the study.
The Case Building Analyst will work with our project partners and third-party suppliers of services including OSINT. The Case Building Analyst will report to the Project Director. The successful candidate will also be invited to contribute to other areas of GRC’s work as appropriate.

DUTY STATION: It is a remote duty station with possible travels to Iraqi Kurdistan.
CONTRACT DURATION: six months with possible extension.

Key tasks

• Evidence collection, review, and analysis: developing perpetrator dossiers by, amongst other things, analyzing voluminous notes of interviews, identifying areas for further investigation and possible sources of evidence, and overseeing the work of third-party suppliers of services including OSINT. Drafting of “perpetrator dossiers”.
• Active Learning Study: lead the planning, development, and drafting of the ‘active learning study’, a document to guide international and grassroots CSOs in conducting investigations leading to universal jurisdiction prosecutions, in particular focussing on the identification and location of suspects of interest. The “active learning study” will use the project’s own lessons learned from its investigative work as a case study of practical experience underpinning the study.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• 5 – 15 years of experience in international criminal law practice and/or investigations essential
• Experience working as part of a complex investigation is essential; experience in an atrocity crime investigation, either on behalf of a prosecuting authority or an NGO is highly desirable
• Experience working with OSINT as an asset
• Professional legal/investigatory experience concerning the Yezidi genocide and/or ISIS/Daesh crimes is an asset
• Experience with the universal jurisdiction process in any jurisdiction as an asset
• Qualified in law and/or investigations essential. Significant experience in these fields may be accepted in lieu of any formal qualification
• Proficiency in English is essential. Understanding Arabic or Kurdish is an asset
• Able to work on their own initiative and with limited supervision, without requiring detailed guidance to get started but who can be given the desired outcome and figure out the action areas required to reach it
• Being able to lead a team and work collaboratively as part of a team within GRC and with GRC’s external partners and beneficiaries is essential
• Understanding project-level M&E and developing and executing plans to achieve project goals on time is essential
• Clear communication skills, in written and oral English
• Flexible, versatile, and creative and able to work in a changeable & fast-moving environment;
• Possessing a proactive character, suggesting solutions and approaches, anticipating problems, and foreseeing potential challenges
• Able to think practically, to break down and pursue the elements required to operationalize a strategy
• Administratively competent; able to manage to compete with urgent demands.