Requires a Cover Letter?: 
yes
Application Submissions Guideline: 

How to Apply:  

Please email a CV and statement of interest in English on or before 17 July 2020 to: 

[email protected]

 

The subject of the application should read ‘Lawyer SAWA’. 

 

  • Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interviews. 
  • LAW is an equal opportunity employer. Women are particularly encouraged to apply.  
Contact Person Name: 
Terence Flyte
Contact Person Email: 
Description: 

Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) provides creative legal assistance in fragile and conflict-affected areas. LAW works in Africa, South- East Asia and the Middle East and has offices in the Netherlands, in the UK and Switzerland. In 2019 LAW started a project on the Syria crisis to address human rights violations and abuses since the beginning of the conflict.      

 

The Syria conflict has provoked “the world's largest humanitarian crisis since World War II”. Over 14 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria, 6.6 million displaced within Syria (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UNOCHA) and more than 5.6 million registered refugees beyond Syria’s borders, the vast majority hosted by neighbouring countries. Between October 2019 and January 2020 alone, over 390,000 Syrians have been internally displaced due to the ongoing military offensive in Idlib, 80% of them women and children. Civilians have been the main victims of the conflict.[1] Serious human rights violations such as rape and sexual violence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, forcible displacement, and summary executions emanate from all parties to the conflict. Women have been targeted differently than men during military conflict and wars. Women in Syria were and are subject to discrimination and gender-based violence. This fact should not obscure the role they have played in the uprising, nor their active organising to resist violence and enhance their participation in negotiation, peace-building and engendering constitution processes. Men are also victims of gender-based violence, a phenomenon that in many cases remains invisible.[2]

                       

Syria Programme

From October 1st 2019, a consortium led by Euromed Feminist Initiative is implementing Enhancing women´s participation in decision making and peace building processes in Syria. LAW, in conjunction with SAWA for Development and Aid (SAWA), is implementing the component Empowering victims and survivors to participate effectively in Syrian-led and inclusive justice strategies, which seeks to ensure that survivors of gendered human rights violations and international crimes can effectively articulate and pursue their justice needs.

 LAW provides support to survivors’ associations, builds the capacity of Syrian lawyers, and works towards victim centred justice for human rights violations and abuses. The programme seeks to increase access to justice for women and girls, those who have suffered from gendered crimes, and LGBTQI communities. In Lebanon, a major programmatic focus will be addressing the justice needs of the LGBTQI community

LAW and SAWA are currently looking for a dynamic and ambitious lawyer to support the Programme. The lawyer must be able to work individually and remotely as well as be able to coordinate and work closely within an effective and motivated team. The lawyer will be based in Beirut, Lebanon. The lawyer will be responsible for a range of legal and administrative duties, including providing direct legal aid services to survivors to every extent possible, working with survivors’ associations, building the capacity of Syrian lawyers, and overseeing close coordination between LAW, SAWA and other implementing partners.

 

 

POSITION DESCRIPTION

 

Reports to

 

Senior Programme Manager

 

Functions/Key Results Expected

 

The lawyer has the following responsibilities: 

 

 

Legal

 

  • Design and deliver outreach activities, such as awareness-raising sessions;
  • Provision of direct legal aid services to survivors including information, assistance and representation;
  • Maintenance of LAW’s secure case database;
  • Work with survivors’ associations to develop a justice strategy, and implement said strategy in line with survivors’ wishes;
  • Capacity-building of survivors’ associations;
  • Coordinate with relevant actors in the field, including UN working groups and sub-clusters;
  • Facilitate survivors’ engagement with relevant international or regional justice mechanisms;
  • Organise and participate in workshops and panels related to project activities; and
  • Assist with trainings on gendered crimes and relevant legal frameworks.

 

Administrative

 

  • Consult with LAW on a regular basis;
  • Fulfil monthly reporting requirements; and

 

  • Manage programme budget by liaising with LAW on expenditures.

 

In carrying out these responsibilities, the lawyer will perform the duties and tasks outlined below:

 

  • Undertake outreach activities, such as awareness-raising sessions, to identify and engage with individuals in need of legal aid services and survivors’ groups in need of support;
  • Provide legal information, assistance and, where possible, representation to people from the LBGTQI community, including Syrian refugees, on issues such as arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in detention, discrimination in the workplace, discrimination in housing and tenancy, domestic violence, and violence in the street;
  • Maintain case information on LAW’s secure database, Sharepoint;
  • Undertake ad hoc field research on legal issues such as access to justice and gaps in legal aid provision;
  • Meet with survivors to understand their capacities and justice needs and link survivors with Legal Action Worldwide;
  • Under supervision of LAW’s Syria programme team, develop a justice strategy with survivors’ groups based on a comprehensive analysis of their justice needs;
  • Attend relevant coordination meetings, including meetings of UN working groups and sub-clusters;
  • Coordinate activities with other actors to strengthen the prevention of discrimination and harassment through increased access to justice;
  • With the consent of survivors, facilitate engagement between survivor groups and relevant justice mechanisms;
  • Organize and facilitate roundtables;
  • Organize and facilitate capacity-building of Syrian lawyers with supervision from a legal expert;
  • Hold bi-weekly calls with LAW’s Syria programme team to advise on planned activities related to programme;
  • Submit a monthly report to LAW and SAWA on the implementation of the programme, including a comprehensive overview of the main challenges and programme impact, using a pre-prepared reporting template;
  • Undertake technical training developed and delivered by LAW’s network of human rights lawyers, and consult regularly with a highly experienced mentor;
  • Submit requests to LAW for release of funds to cover programme-related activities; and
  • Submit receipts for programme-related expenditures to LAW in a timely manner.

 

Skills and Qualifications:

 

Required

 

  • Qualified lawyer with 1-3 years’ work experience in criminal law, family law, immigration law, or other relevant field;
  • Excellent written and oral Arabic;
  • Experience working with vulnerable groups including survivors of gendered-based violence and gendered crimes;
  • Demonstrable interest in human rights and/or justice;
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and strong technical literacy;
  • Strong communication and interpersonal skills;
  • Ability to work independently and to act effectively on one’s own initiative;
  • Ability to meet deadlines and see tasks through from beginning to fulfilment;
  • An adaptive approach obtained through experience of working in volatile and unpredictable settings, such as post-conflict settings; and
  • Ability to manage relationships at all levels through excellent mediation, negotiation and client relationship skills.

 

Preferred

 

  • Proficiency in written and oral English;
  • Knowledge of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and/or international criminal law; and
  • Experience of human rights advocacy.

 

Travel within the region will be required.

 

Deadline for applications:  17 July 2020

 

Period of Employment: From July 2020 until 30 September 2021.

 

 

     

    [2] Check L. Khattab, H. Myrttinen, “‘Most of the men want to leave’ Armed groups, displacement and the gendered webs of vulnerability in Syria”, International Alert, July 2017. Further details related to the present project have been added to the full proposal.

     https://www.international-alert.org/publications/most-of-the-men-want-to-leave

    Expired

    NOTE:

    Daleel Madani, the civil society network, serves as a platform for organisations to post their professional opportunities, but is not involved in the recruitment process. The hiring organisation is solely responsible for the job and candidate selection.

    Last modified: 
    07 Jul, 2020
    Intervention Sector(s):
    Human Rights & Protection, Law & Legal Affairs
    Application Deadline:
    Friday, 17 July 2020
    Contract Type:
    Full Time
    Period of Employment:
    One year with possibility of extension
    Salary
    N/A
    Salary Range:
    1500 to 2000 (USD)
    Education Degree:
    Bachelor Degree
    Education Degree Details:
    LLB or equivalent
    Experience Requirements:
    2 to 3 years
    Arabic Language:
    Excellent
    English Language:
    Excellent
    French Language:
    None
    Country/City: 
    • Lebanon
    • Beirut