Deadline: 16 February, 2023

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is seeking to fill the role of Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Officer.

The UNHCR is a UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees and stateless people and assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal/procedural advice and support on RSD adjudication issues within the Area of Responsibility (AoR)
• Stay abreast of legal, political, security and other developments relevant to mandate RSD, and the protection environment, including developments in relation to national asylum/RSD systems, as applicable
• Engage relevant national authorities and structures in identifying and expanding opportunities in view of developing or strengthening national asylum/RSD systems
• Undertake a quality review of RSD assessments in line with UNHCR policies/guidelines related to mandate RSD and endorse RSD decisions as required
• Conduct interviews and draft RSD Assessments in complex/sensitive cases per relevant standards and guidelines
• Provide ongoing coaching and specialised training on the inclusion criteria; principles and procedures related to exclusion; cancellation and revocation; international humanitarian law; human rights law
• Provide coaching and specialised training on interviewing techniques and credibility assessment/establishing the facts; and legal drafting
• Provide specialised training to other UNHCR units on the refugee criteria and related issues as needed.
• Contribute to the development of the RSD strategy and support senior management to ensure its full and effective integration into the protection and solution strategy of the country operations plan
• Contribute to developing and enhancing regional and global RSD standards and policies, as required
• Support the design and implementation of operation-specific SOPs for all aspects of RSD operations in line with relevant standards and policies, including UNHCR’s AGD policy and Forward Plan.
• Ensure the prioritisation of persons with specific needs if based in a regional bureau
• Monitor trends and systematically compile statistics related to RSD case processing
• Analyse key indicators of the quality and efficiency of decision-making in RSD processing to assess capacity and resource requirements of operations in the region or the operation to which the RSD officer is assigned
• Contribute to the evaluation and projection of RSD staffing and financial needs using the RSD staffing benchmarks
• Support the allocation of appropriate human, material and financial resources
• Contribute to identifying and preventing fraud in RSD through oversight, advice and guidance to UNHCR personnel, partners and persons of concern

Requirements

• Degree in International Refugee Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, Social Sciences or a related field
• Six years of relevant experience with undergraduate degree, five years of relevant experience with graduate degree, or four years of relevant experience with doctorate degree
• Three years of experience working directly with procedues and principles related to adjudicating individual asylum claims in RSD procedures
• Experience as a decision-maker in UNHCR or government SD procedures (desirable)
• Experience in providing legal representation to asylum-seekers in UNHCR or government SD procedure (desirable)
• Experience in supervising a team (desirable)
• Completion of other UNHCR learning programmes relevant to RSD (desirable)
• Training and coaching experience (desirable)
• Experience in working with vulnerable or traumatised individuals (desirable)
• Knowledge of additional UN languages (desirable)
• Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station, if not English

To apply and for more information, click here.

Photo source: UNHCR