Organisational context

The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide allegedly committed within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The main task of the Preliminary Examination Unit (PEU) is to conduct the factual and legal analysis of situations that may merit investigation under the Rome Statute, and to advise the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors accordingly. Preliminary Examinations (PEs) are an area of great strategic responsibility requiring analysis of considerable volumes of information, in consultation with relevant national and international actors. PEU is responsible for reviewing referrals and declarations under article 12(3) received from States Parties, as well as thousands of communications submitted through the OTP Link platform.

PEU regularly supports the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors in their engagements with national authorities and other actors in relation to multiple communications and preliminary examinations, including briefings in preparation for relevant meetings and missions. PEU represents the Office in meetings with national authorities, diplomatic representatives and international stakeholders. PEU’s work also lays a foundation for cooperation and complementarity in situations where investigations are opened.

The Head of PEU will supervise some five staff and report directly to the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors on issues related to preliminary examinations

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of a Deputy Prosecutor, the incumbent will be responsible for the following tasks:

PEU leadership and management

• Lead and manage PEU, planning efficiently the work of the Unit, recruiting, training, guiding and appraising the performance of its members, ensuring high quality of the work, taking decisions at the team level on managerial and operational matters, and ensuring a respectful and harmonious working climate within PEU;
• Interact with and implement the direction from the Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors;
• Ensure PEU develops clear processes to collect, register, review and analyse informationat the PE stage to facilitate subsequent retrieval and use in a potential investigation, as well as admissibility and disclosure in a potential prosecution;
• Ensure PEU compliance with ICC legal, operational and policy framework;

• Actively contribute to improving the Unit and the work culture of the OTP, acting as a role model in all interactions, with due respect to diversity and professional responsibilities, positive and empowering rapport with staff, and full adherence to ‘zero tolerance’ policy for inappropriate behaviour.

Strategic support to senior management

• Responsible for adivising senior management on situations under Preliminary Examination, including potential investigations and cases, cooperation and communication strategies, and related planning and resource requirements;
• Responsible for the initial filtering of communications, assessment of whether they are manifestly outside the Court’s jurisdiction or warrant further analysis, related response letters to communication senders, and periodic reporting to senior management;
• Ensure effective support for litigation on admissibility of situations at the PE stage, in close coordination with OTP legal experts;
• Ensure effective examination of Gender-Based Crimes (GBC), Crimes Against and Affecting Children (CAAC) and any other policy priorities of the Office in terms of crimes, in close coordination with the Gender and Children Unit of the OTP (GCU);
• Ensure proactive efforts to implement the Office’s policy on complementarity and cooperation at the Preliminary Examination stage, in close coordination with the External Affairs Unit of the OTP, working with and supporting national authorities and other relevant accountability mechanisms;

• Join and support directly senior management, including Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors as required, in field missions and interactions with national and international authorities, in compliance with appropriate operational, security, cooperation and protocol standards;
• Participate in the development of OTP strategy and policy documents, and engage in representational activities regarding, policy and strategic issues and for complementarity-enhancement purposes.

Qualifications and Experience

Education:

• An advanced university degree in law, internal relations, political science, criminology, social sciences or other relevant field is required. A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience is accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Training on management skills, including project management, supervision and diversity, would be desirable.

Work Experience and Skills:

• A minimum of seven (7) years of relevant professional experience (9 years with a first-level university degree) in national or international investigations or prosecutions, legal or investigative analysis, international cooperation, human rights or related areas is required;
• Strong management experience, communication and collaboration skills cooperation across multiple personal and professional profiles are required. ;
• International cooperation experience and skills, including legal, operational and protocol requirements, in relation to national and international authorities, as well as victims and civil society is required;
• Analytical skills, excellent ability to handle complex and voluminous sets of data, in relation to alleged ICC crimes, crime pattern analysis, political context and conflicdt dynamics is an asset;
• Legal skills, including advanced understanding of the ICC Statute and its requirements of jurisdiction, cooperation, investigation and prosecution; ability to cooperate effectively with legal experts and seek their advice proactively as is desirable
• Ability to work effectively and constructively in highly diverse and multi-disciplinary teams comprised of other analysts, investigators, lawyers and support staff, from different personal backgrounds; is desirable.
• Ability to work under stressful conditions and to meet strict deadlines;
• Ability to keep strict standards of integrity, confidentiality and security including when operating with internet resources and electronic tools, and when participating in field missions;
• Work experience in international or national tribunals, investigation or prosecution agencies is desirable.

Knowledge of Languages:

• Proficiency in one of the working languages of the Court (English or French) is required. Working knowledge of the other working language is highly desirable. Knowledge of another official language of the Court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish),

ICC Core Competencies

Dedication to the mission and values
- Acts consistently in accordance with the mission and values of the Organisation;
- Maintains confidentiality, acts with integrity and shows respect for diversity;
- Shows commitment to the organisation;
- Presents a positive image of the organisation during external discussions.

Professionalism
- Applies professional and technical expertise;
- Keeps abreast of organisational issues;
- Produces workable solutions to a range of problems.

Teamwork
- Listens, consults and communicates proactively;
- Handles disagreements with tact and diplomacy;
- Recognises and rewards the contribution of others.

Learning and developing
- Identifies development strategies needed to achieve work and career goals and makes use of developmental or training opportunities;
- Learns from successes and failures;
- Seeks feedback and gives feedback to others to increase organisational effectiveness;
- Seeks opportunities for improvement of work;
- Has an open mind and contributes to innovation.

Handling uncertain situations
- Adapts to changing circumstances;
- Deals with ambiguity, making positive use of the opportunities it presents;
- Plans activities and projects well in advance and takes account of possible changing circumstances;
- Manages time effectively.

Interaction
- Expresses opinions, information and key points of an argument clearly;
- Handles contacts with diplomacy and tact;
- Communicates in a transparent and open way with internal and external contacts while complying with confidentiality requirements.

Realising objectives
- Accepts and tackles demanding goals with enthusiasm;
- Keeps to agreements with others;
- Focuses on client needs;
- Takes responsibility for actions, projects and people;
- Monitors and maintains quality and productivity.

General Information

Candidates appointed to posts at a P-5 grade or in the Director category are subject to a maximum aggregate length of service of seven years. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC-ASP/23/Res.2) to implement a tenure policy at the Court as of 1 January 2025.

- The selected candidate will be subject to a Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) process in accordance with ICC policy. The PSC process will include but will not be limited to, verification of the information provided in the personal history form and a criminal record check. - Applicants may check the status of vacancies on ICC E-Recruitment web-site.

- Post to be filled by a national of a State Party to the ICC Statute, or of a State which has signed and is engaged in the ratification process or which is engaged in the accession process. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC-ASP/23/Res.3) to introduce a moratorium on the recruitment by the ICC of staff of non-States Parties’ nationality.

- In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC aims to achieve fair representation of women and men for all positions, representation of the principal legal systems of the world for legal positions, and equitable geographical representation for positions in the professional category. - Applications from female candidates are particularly encouraged.

- Personnel recruited at the General Service level are not entitled to all of the benefits granted to internationally-recruited staff; - The International Criminal Court applies the Inter-Organization Mobility Accord and can support secondment of staff from organizations of the United Nations Common System.