Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

A (least hardship)

Family

Internship

2024-10-01

August 21, 2024

Terms of Reference
Internship
Legal Unit, Amman – Jordan

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full-time internship with the Legal Unit at Amman, Jordan.
Established in December 1950, UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, internally displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. UNHCR currently operates in over 130 countries, using its long expertise to protect and care for millions.
Title: Intern, Legal Unit, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Duty Station: Amman, Jordan
Division: Protection
Duration: 6-8 months
Contract Type: Internship (Full time)
Start date: 3rd week of September 2024
Organizational context
Jordan is neither a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, nor does it have any national legislation pertaining to the status and treatment of refugees. The 1998 MOU, as amended in 2014, is the guiding document between UNHCR and the Government and remains the legal basis for involvement with persons of concern. It contains the refugee definition and confirms the principle of non-refoulement. The UNHCR conducts registration, documentation and refugee status determination in Jordan. The MoU provides the legal basis for the stay of asylum-seekers pending status determination and allows mandate refugees a period of time after recognition during which a durable solution has to be found. As there is no possibility of local integration in Jordan, the durable solutions identified are resettlement or voluntary repatriation.
As of 31 July 2024, Jordan hosted 693,702 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR: 625,025 are Syrians (including 166,091 women, 148,162 girls, 155,596 men, and 155,176 boys); in addition, Jordan also hosts 68,677 refugees and asylum-seekers from different countries, with the largest numbers coming from Iraq (49,839), Yemen (12,721), Sudan (4,930), Somalia (469), and other nationalities (718). Refugees in camps (Syrians) are 18.5% of the overall refugee population, while 81.5% of refugees and asylum-seekers live in urban areas.
As the Syrian crisis has evolved from an emergency situation to a protracted one, the UNHCR continues to enhance its protection capacity in order to ensure access to asylum, respect for the principle of non-refoulement and improve the quality of asylum.
In line with its Data Protection Policy, UNHCR in Jordan puts in efforts to ensure protection of personal data of persons of concerns, a critical aspect to the fundamental right to privacy, especially in the information age.
UNHCR Jordan is known for being an innovative operation, having initiated several services aimed at providing effective assistance to persons of concern. The intern will benefit from the operation’s extensive institutional knowledge in the field. In addition, the intern will gain practical knowledge in Data Protection, registration and documentation. Finally, the intern will benefit from in-house training exclusive to UNHCR staff.
The position
In Jordan Operation, within the Legal Unit the Intern will be under the direct supervision of the Snr Protection Officer and will closely work with the Heads of some of the Pillars that constitute the Legal Unit, namely the Protection Risks and Response, Law and Policy and Capacity Development Pillars.
Duties and responsibilities
• Become familiar with the Protection Strategy, the legal and operational framework, the work with partners, and the Unit’s Work-plan as relevant.
• Assist with the consolidation of reporting and contribute to drafting of relevant analysis, research and strategy papers, concept notes, internal guidance materials, as well as other notes pertaining to the Legal Unit’s areas of work.
• Supports Outreach activities, which may include visits or missions, besides participation in and support to meetings with refugee communities.
• Contribute to update the compilation/mapping of relevant provisions in existing national legal frameworks or sharia law to inform and provide the relevant background to UNHCR Jordan’s Protection Strategy.
• Assist in implementing and monitoring the newly formulated methodology and tools to measure efficiency and impact of UNHCR organised/implemented capacity development activities with focus on key Protection areas.
• Assist in developing training material in the areas of international refugee law, national legal framework, UNHCR’s mandate, Jordan Operational framework and UNHCR’s key activities in Jordan.
• Support in the preparation for and organization of UNHCR’s Protection and Solutions regular coordination meetings.
• Take part in online and in-house trainings.
• Other duties as required.
Minimum qualifications required
In order to be considered for an internship, candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria:
• Be, at least, either a recent graduate (having completed their studies within two years of applying) or a current student in a graduate/undergraduate school programme from a university or higher education facility accredited by IAU/UNESCO ; and
• Have completed at least two years of undergraduate studies in a field relevant or of interest to the work of UNHCR.
• Demonstrated an interest in International Refugee Law, Refugee Protection, UNHCR’s Mandate.

Desirable qualifications and skills
• Knowledge and skills in drafting analysis and prep presentations.
• Having relevant courses in the domain of Public International Law.
• Time management skills.
Conditions
It is a full/part-time role with working hours starting from 8.30am to 15;30:00pm Sunday to Thursday. The successful candidate will be assigned to support the team in Amman.
Internships normally lasts two to six months with the possibility of extension up to eight months for full-time internships and twelve months for part-time internships.
Candidates with previous UNHCR Internship experience must not have exceeded the maximum total cumulative duration.
Allowance: The Sponsoring Institution shall provide non-reimbursable financial support in the form of a stipend/scholarship/allowance/etc. and travel to and from the duty station for the period of internship with UNHCR.
The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing or training.
We welcome applications from candidates with a refugee or stateless background.

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Other information

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance

Home-Based

No