Result of Service

Expected tangible and measurable output(s)/deliverable(s):

1) Experts are identified and partnerships with relevant national authorities, organization, as well as civil society, academia and the private sector are established, in close coordination with UNODC;

2) The annotated outline of the Issue Brief is developed;

3) The first draft of the Issue Brief is developed based on desk research and discussions with relevant counterparts;

4) The regional multistakeholder event is successfully organized and implemented;

5) The Issue Brief is finalized integrating considerations from the multistakeholder meeting and UNODC comments;

6) A West and Central Africa dissemination strategy on Gender and Human Rights Toolkit and Issue Brief is prepared.

Work Location

Home-based, with potential travel to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (November 2023)

Expected duration

1 October 2023 – 20 December 2023

Duties and Responsibilities

Background of the assignment:

Human rights and gender equality are intrinsically linked to combating and preventing organized crime effectively. Only by looking at the phenomenon of organized crime in a comprehensive manner, including through a gender and human rights lens, is it possible to grasp its multiple facets, manifestations and consequences, allowing to prevent and combat it in an effective way. This has been recognized in several international instruments, including resolution 26/3 of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the recently adopted resolution 11/2 of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), which encourages States to mainstream gender and human rights into their legislation, policies, programmes and other initiatives against organized crime.

Despite its widely recognized significance, the inclusion of gender responsive mechanisms and human rights safeguards into normative frameworks against organized crime at the national and regional policy level remains a challenge, often due to limited understanding of the concepts and low capacity to develop and implement such inclusive responses. For this reason, UNODC has developed a Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender and Human Rights in the Implementation of UNTOC (hereafter Gender and Human Rights Toolkit), which will be launched in September 2023. The purpose of Toolkit is to support States in the effective integration of intersectional gender equality and human rights considerations in the development of legislation, policies and strategies against organized crime. The Toolkit presents a range of practical instruments to address key gender and human rights dimensions that have been highlighted in the Issue Papers on “Organized Crime and Gender Issues relating to UNTOC” and “UNTOC and International Human Rights Law”.

The next phase of the project entails the targeted dissemination of the Toolkit and the provision of technical assistance to States to strengthen national and regional efforts to mainstreaming gender and human rights in the implementation of UNTOC. To be meaningful and cognizant of different needs and realities, such assistance needs to be tailored to different regions and countries. For this reason, UNODC will be developing an issue brief contextualizing the Gender and Human Rights Toolkit in West and Central Africa. The content of the issue brief will be informed and validated through a multi-stakeholder regional meeting on contextualizing the Gender and Human Rights Toolkit in November 2023.

Within this framework, the Global Programme on Implementing the Organized Crime Convention, in the Conference Support Section (CSS) of the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch (OCB) of UNODC, is looking for an expert consultant to support the development of the aforementioned Issue Brief.

Purpose of the assignment:

The purpose of the assignment is to provide subject-matter expertise for the implementation of activities in West and Central Africa, including through the drafting of the Issue Brief on Gender and Human Rights Mainstreaming in the implementation of UNTOC in West and Central Africa, coordination with relevant stakeholders to support the development of the Issue Brief and the organization of the Regional multistakeholder meeting on contextualizing the Gender and Human Rights Toolkit.

The consultant will work in coordination with the project team and will also maintain close coordination with UNODC field staff located in West and Central Africa.

Specific tasks to be performed by the consultant:

Under the guidance of UNODC Programme Manager of the Global Programme on Implementing the Organized Crime Convention and direct supervision of UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, the consultant will perform the following specific tasks:

1) Produce a draft of the Issue Brief on Gender and Human Rights Mainstreaming in the implementation of UNTOC in West and Central Africa, with the aim of contextualizing the Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender and Human Rights in the implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to West and Central Africa;

2) Support the organization, participate in and facilitate the regional multistakeholder event on contextualizing the Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender and Human Rights focused on peer-to-peer exchanges around best practices and challenges to gender and human rights mainstreaming in efforts to prevent and combat organized crime in West and Central Africa;

3) Finalize the Issue Brief on Gender and Human Rights Mainstreaming in the implementation of UNTOC in West and Central Africa, integrating best practices and relevant considerations shared during the workshop, ensuring consistency with the Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender and Human Rights in the implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;

4) Provide practical suggestions for the dissemination of the Gender and Human Rights Toolkit and subsequent Issue Brief in West and Central Africa. This includes the identification of relevant events and stakeholders for possible collaboration.

Qualifications/special skills

• An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in law, preferably in the areas of international law or criminal law, or in criminology, international relations, human rights or gender studies. A first level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in the field of research and legal/policy analysis in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice, with a focus on organized crime, is required;

• Experience in the field of research and legal/policy analysis related to gender and human rights is required;

• Experience working on organized crime-related issues in West and Central Africa is desirable;

• Knowledge of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is desirable;

• Experience working for the United Nations or other international organizations is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in English (both oral and written) and knowledge of French is required. Working knowledge of another official language of the UN is an advantage.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.