Associate Protection Officer

Organizational Context

The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer or Senior Protection Officer, potentially supervising protection staff. The role involves providing functional protection guidance on legal matters and accountabilities to information management and programme staff, ensuring operational responses mainstream protection methodologies and integrate safeguards.

Job Purpose

The Associate Protection Officer is responsible for coordinating timely and effective protection responses for forcibly displaced and stateless persons, ensuring all sectors integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the development of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents UNHCR on protection doctrine and policy. A key aspect is ensuring meaningful engagement of displaced persons in decisions affecting them and supporting programme design influenced by their concerns and capacities. This involves building and maintaining effective interfaces with communities, authorities, partners, and stakeholders to enhance protection.

Responsibilities

Stay informed about political, social, economic, and cultural developments impacting the protection environment. Promote and ensure consistent interpretation and application of International and National Law, and applicable UN/UNHCR policies and standards. Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues, liaising with authorities for documentation. Conduct eligibility and status determination, and promote measures to identify, prevent, and reduce statelessness. Contribute to country-level child protection and education plans. Oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for protection and solutions activities, managing individual protection cases, including GBV and child protection. Monitor and intervene in protection incidents, recommending durable solutions like voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Assess resettlement needs and priorities. Implement participatory assessments and promote AGD sensitive programming. Facilitate results-based advocacy and effective information management through disaggregated data. Promote community-based protection approaches and capacity building. Support risk management related to SEA, fraud, data protection, and human rights due diligence. Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities and NGOs. Intervene with authorities on protection issues and negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR. Decide priorities for reception, interviewing, and counselling. Enforce compliance of staff and partners with global protection policies and standards.

Work Experience

Essential: Professional experience in refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights, or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply legal principles. Desirable: Field experience, including direct work with communities. Good IT skills including database management.

Skills

Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination Project Management Human Rights Doctrine/Standards International Humanitarian Law Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation Climate change and disaster related displacement Drafting and Documentation Database management skills

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