Poland: Legal Officer
Background This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to assignment at OSCE/ODIHR must be borne by their authorities. Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the OSCE responsible for the human dimension. ODIHR is active throughout the OSCE area in the fields of election observation, democratic development, human rights, tolerance and non-discrimination, and the rule of law. ODIHR's assistance projects and other activities are implemented in participating States in accordance with ODIHR's mandate.
The Office's democratization activities include the following thematic areas: rule of law, democratic governance and gender, migration and freedom of movement, and legislative support. The ODIHR implements targeted assistance programmes facilitating and enhancing participating states compliance with OSCE commitments towards the development of democratic structures.
Tasks and Responsibilities The incumbent works within the Legislative Support Unit comprising of 6 staff members placed in the Democratization Department, which, in response to requests from participating States, reviews legislation to assess compliance with international standards, particularly OSCE commitments.
Under the supervision of the Chief, Legislative Support Unit, the incumbent performs the following functions:
Preparing comments related to questions of conformity of domestic legislation with OSCE commitments, human rights standards and other relevant standards;Supervising and reviewing the work of experts who have been contracted to assess compliance with domestic legislation and updating of the legislative database;Regularly assessing methodological guidelines related to compliance issues and writing status reports;Responsible for further developing the ODIHR legislative database (www.legislationline.org), in particular its Law-Making Section, including the provision of legal analyses and abstracts;Collating information and conducting research on accountability and transparency in law making as well as assisting in the conducting of Legislative Process Surveys;Monitoring legal reform affecting the rule of law and fundamental freedoms in the OSCE region;Performing other related duties as assigned. Necessary Qualifications Advanced university degree in law;Minimum of four years of professional work experience in law and some years of international experience.Excellent knowledge of international human rights law;Knowledge of lawmaking issues would be an asset.Knowledge of computer applications, especially web-site maintenance, HTML language and word processing;Political intuition and tact; organizational and strong analytical skills; resourcefulness, initiative and maturity of judgement;Ability to work with minimum supervision. Experience in working as part of a team is highly desirable;Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;Excellent working knowledge of English with particular knowledge of technical legal terminology in use in the field of rule of law and human rights (including strong drafting skills) is required;Knowledge of another OSCE working language, particularly Russian would be an asset.
This post is open for secondment only. Candidates are requested to apply through the OSCE desk of the respective Ministry for Foreign Affairs several days prior to deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of the application. Delayed nominations will not be considered.
The OSCE is committed to achieving a better balance of women and men within the Organization. The nomination of female candidates is particularly encouraged.
The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation.
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This post is open for secondment only. Candidates are requested to apply through the OSCE desk of the respective Ministry for Foreign Affairs several days prior to deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of the application. Delayed nominations will not be considered.
The OSCE is committed to achieving a better balance of women and men within the Organization. The nomination of female candidates is particularly encouraged.
The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation.
