Note: This vacancy has been re-opened to increase the applicant pool. Candidates who were already nominated for this position are still under consideration and do not need to be re-nominated at this time.

General Minimum Requirements

The general minimum requirements for working with the OSCE are:

• Excellent physical condition
• Possession of a valid automobile driving license and ability to drive using manual transmission
• Ability to cope with physical hardship and willingness to work extra hours and in an environment with limited infrastructure

Field of Expertise Requirements

The general minimum requirements for working in this field of expertise are:

-University education in law or significant work experience in criminal justice and/or law enforcement (the latter required for police corrections officer training);
-Experience in the practice of law, e.g. judges, prosecutors, lawyers, etc;
-Knowledge of courtroom proceedings and criminal law and procedure;
-Knowledge of international legal procedure standards and instruments;
-Demonstrable organizational, analytical, communication and interpersonal skills.

Level of Professional Competence Requirements

Furthermore, this level of responsibility requires the following:

Education:

A first-level university degree.

Experience:

Minimum 6 years of relevant professional experience.

Mission Specific Requirements

Additionally, this particular post has specific requirements:

Mandatory:

• International mission members in the OSCE are internationally recruited. For the purposes of OSCE Missions (Field Operations) this means that they are hired to work in a duty station outside of their home country or country of permanent residence. As a result, nationals and permanent residents of the duty station are not eligible for international mission member positions. In the case of individuals with multiple nationalities, candidates are still ineligible for consideration even if using another citizenship for application while simultaneously maintaining the citizenship or permanent residence status of the country where the duty station is located;
• Minimum of 6 years of professional experience in the practice of law, e.g. lawyer, legal officer, judges, prosecutor, etc;
• Previous work experience with drafting rule of law reports;
• Excellent analytical skills, in particular with regard to legal reasoning;
• Excellent legal writing ability;
• Experience in project management;
• Excellent written and spoken English;
• Strong ability to conduct research, including electronically, and analyse information on a range of legal issues;
• Ability to work within tight deadlines and under pressure;
• Ability to operate at medium to high government/diplomatic levels and with members of the judiciary, including senior officials;
• Ability to operate Windows applications, including word processing and e-mail;
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work as a member of a team, with people of different cultural and religious backgrounds, different gender and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity.

Desirable:

• Experience working in South East European countries or other transitional countries.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Department, the incumbent follows, analyses and reports on developments in Albania related to the rule of law. The incumbent is responsible for providing advice on Albanian legislative and judicial reform, within the Presence’s mandate. The incumbent is also responsible for developing and implementing projects in this area.

The Senior Legal Officer has the following specific responsibilities:

1. Monitoring, analyzing and reporting on developments in the Albanian legal sector, including the activities of justice sector institutions, the functioning of the legislative process, as well as rule of law related developments;
2. Monitoring and analyzing the Albanian legal sector in light of international norms, OSCE Commitments, and best practices from participating States, identifying gaps in domestic legislation and practice, and drafting recommendations to address these gaps;
3. Providing assistance, in close co-operation with national and international stakeholders, to the Albanian authorities for the implementation of recommendations;
4. Serving as manager for projects, in particular those supporting legal and justice sector reform;
5. Analyzing and commenting on draft legislation and policies;
6. Preparing or assisting in the preparation of various documents, including internal and external reports, memoranda, briefing notes, talking points and comments;
7. Establishing and maintaining close working relationships with international and national partners;
8. Providing rapid analysis on legal issues that arise in Albania as well as on legal issues internal to the OSCE Presence in Albania;
9. Assisting the Head of the Rule of Law and Human Rights Department in the programmatic and administrative management of the Department;
10. Representing the Rule of Law and Human Rights Department and the Presence at meetings, conferences and seminars, as required and appropriate;
11. Reviewing and editing reports, comments, project documents and other texts prepared by national and international staff in the Department;
12. Supervising Mission Members as applicable;
13. Performing other duties as assigned.

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Presence in Albania please see: https:// www.osce.org/presence-in-albania.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages the nomination of qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds. Please note that nationals or permanent residents of the country of the duty station are not eligible to apply.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation; therefore, the maximum period of service in this post or in the same Mission is seven years.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE’s online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/. If your participating State does not provide the option to apply online for seconded positions, you are kindly requested to submit your offline application form available at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form to the respective OSCE delegation whose address can be found at https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please apply to your relevant authorities well in advance of the deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of your application. Delayed nominations will not be considered. The OSCE can only process Secondment applications that have been nominated by participating States. For queries relating to your application, please refer to the respective delegation as listed here: https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please be aware that OSCE appointments are subject to medical clearance.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.