Chief, Legislative Assistance and Rule of Law (P4)

Background:

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, combating human trafficking, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

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, legislative assistance, democratic governance, gender, political participation of youth and persons with disabilities, migration and freedom of movement. ODIHR implements targeted assistance programmes facilitating and enhancing participating States' compliance with OSCE commitments towards developing, maintaining and supporting resilient, accountable, inclusive and effective democratic institutions, and ensuring that legislation and legislative processes are in line with OSCE commitments and international human rights and democratic governance standards.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Under the supervision of the Head of Democratization Department of ODIHR, the incumbent is responsible for the following duties:

1. Providing strategic leadership and direction for ODIHR’s legislative assistance and rule of law work, ensuring coherence with ODIHR’s mandate, strategic priorities and human dimension commitments. Defining thematic areas and geographic focus of the Unit’s work in consultation with senior management and Unit members, and providing strategic advice on emerging rule of law and legislative developments across the OSCE region;

2. Providing substantive guidance and ensuring the overall quality, consistency and strategic coherence of the Unit’s activities and outputs, including legal opinions on draft and existing legislation, assessments of legislative processes, reports, thematic studies, legislative guidelines and other knowledge products;

3. Overseeing the development, implementation and evaluation of programmes and activities aimed at strengthening the rule of law, democratic governance and human rights. Guiding assistance to state institutions and relevant stakeholders, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, lawmakers, parliamentary staff and other officials involved in justice and legislative processes;

4. Developing and maintaining strategic partnerships with public authorities and institutions of OSCE participating States, international and regional organizations, OSCE structures and field operations, civil society organizations, experts and other relevant stakeholders. Representing ODIHR on legislative assistance and rule of law issues at OSCE meetings, international conferences, seminars and other relevant fora;

5. Managing and providing leadership to the Legislative Assistance and Rule of Law Unit’s team, ensuring effective coordination, allocation of responsibilities, performance management and professional development. Ensuring that activities are implemented effectively and in line with the Unit’s mandate and the priorities of the Democratization Department;

6. Leading the Unit’s strategic and operational planning, including the preparation of workplans, prioritization of activities and monitoring of implementation. Overseeing the management of the Unit’s budget and extra-budgetary resources, contributing to resource mobilization efforts, and supervising the preparation of donor reports, annual reporting inputs and other related documentation;

7. Promoting the development and dissemination of knowledge products, guidance materials and analytical tools on rule of law and human dimension issues. Providing expert advice to ODIHR senior management and other Departments on legislative, judicial and rule of law matters.

Necessary qualifications:

• Second-level University degree in law; a first-level University degree in combination with two years of additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the second-level university degree;
• Minimum seven years (nine years with first-level university degree) of professional legal experience, including at least three years of experience at the international level working in the field of legislative assistance and rule of law development;
• Proven management, administration, and strategic planning skills, with demonstrable experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and managing financial resources being a plus;
• Proven experience in overseeing and/or drafting legal opinions, analyses, and reports on human dimension matters;
• Demonstrated experience and knowledge across multiple OSCE human dimension thematic areas, including at least one area beyond rule of law such as democratic governance, political participation, equality and non-discrimination, political party regulation, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, public integrity and anti-corruption, equality and inclusive participation, security sector governance and reform, counter-terrorism and human rights, national human rights institution, violence against women, or other relevant human dimension topics;
• Demonstrated experience working and expertise in public international law, international human rights law;
• Demonstrated capacity to provide high-level legal and policy advice on legislative reforms, lawmaking processes, and legislative compliance with international human rights standards;
• Demonstrated ability to advise high-level officials and key stakeholders on rule of law, legislative assistance and lawmaking issues;
• Strong analytical, organizational and written communication skills, with experience managing multiple workstreams under tight deadlines;
• Ability to think strategically and design impactful activities;
• Political intuition and tact;
• Ability to work with minimum supervision and to exercise sound independent judgement;
• Ability to work with people of different nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds;
• Demonstrated gender and diversity awareness and sensitivity, ethical awareness and an ability to integrate a gender and diversity perspective into tasks and activities;
• Experience working with comparative law is an advantage;
• Relevant work experience in Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe, South Caucasus or Central Asia is an advantage;
• Excellent knowledge of English with strong legal drafting skills is required. Knowledge of other OSCE languages, especially Russian, is an asset.

Remuneration Package:

Monthly remuneration is approximately EUR 8,500 depending on post adjustment and family status. OSCE salaries are exempt from taxation in Poland. Social benefits will include participation in the Cigna medical insurance scheme and the OSCE Provident Fund. The Organization contributes an amount equivalent to 15% of the employee's salary to this Fund and the employee contributes 7.5%. Other allowances and benefits are similar to those offered under the United Nations Common System.

Appointments are normally made at Step 1 of the applicable OSCE salary scale. In exceptional cases, an initial appointment at up to Step 3 may be considered. This depends on factors such as relevant experience exceeding minimum requirements or higher previous remuneration. Any such request by a candidate must be reviewed and approved by the OSCE before the appointment.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment at a lower grade or 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.

Candidates interviewed and found suitable in the recruitment process for this vacancy notice will be placed on a roster of suitable candidates (valid for three years) for fixed-term posts, should a suitable opportunity arise. The placement on a roster does not guarantee a future appointment or assignment.

Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States, please see https://www.osce.org/participating-states.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization.

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.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation, therefore the maximum period of service in this post is 7 years.

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

The mandatory retirement age at the OSCE is 65 years for contracted positions at the general service, professional and director level. The Organization shall apply an age limit of 63 years at the time of appointment as the incumbent selected is normally expected to carry out the contractual obligation of two years.

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