Associate Human Rights Officer

UN Human Rights in Moldova assists the UN Country Team in Moldova, the authorities, the judiciary, the parliament, national human rights institutions and civil society through technical advice and capacity building activities to protect, respect, fulfill and mainstream human rights in the country.

UN Human Rights (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – OHCHR) represents the world's commitment to the universal ideals of human dignity. It has a unique mandate from the international community to promote and protect all human rights for all people.  UN Human Rights Moldova supports the Government, civil society, National Human Rights Institutions and the UN Country Team among others, in strengthening the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights.

The Office’s thematic priorities are: (i) advancing sustainable development through increased human rights and evidence-based policy and decision making; (ii) supporting an increased meaningful engagement between rights-holders and duty-bearers to prevent human rights violations, including discriminatory trends, to strengthen the rule of law and sustain peace; (iii) supporting an increased national implementation of international human rights obligations, including recommendations from the international human rights mechanisms.

Since December 2022, UN Human Rights Moldova has been implementing the third phase of the Swedish-funded One UN Joint Action "Cross-river support for Human Rights” together with six UN Agencies. As part of this project, UN Human Rights undertakes efforts to increasing the respect, protection, and fulfilment of human rights in the Transnistrian region in a manner that contributes to confidence building and social cohesion between both banks of Nistru/Dniester river. The UN Human Rights component of the project contributes to strengthening support to the network of human rights defenders and facilitation of human rights advocacy initiatives, including advocacy group to promote gender equality and women’s rights; it also supports further institutionalisation of the Roma community mediators’ network in the Transnistrian region and extend cooperation of community mediators on both banks of Nistru/Dniester river, including on prevention of early marriages and promotion of gender equality. Finally, it strives to enhance human rights knowledge of media and increase public awareness on human rights.

This assignment will be focused on strengthening the freedom and empowerment of women and girls in the Transnistrian region, including in the context of the emerging energy crisis.

UN Human Rights Moldova engages in multiple areas, including: human rights mechanisms; the rights of persons with disabilities, older persons, minorities, refugees; education; social protection; the reform of the security sector; the promotion of civic space). Therefore, the Assistant Human Rights Officer will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience on these areas, based on his or her interests.

Under the direct supervision of the Human Rights Officer, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

· Contribute to human rights capacity building of human rights defenders and staff members of civil society organisations from the Transnistrian region, and to the development of advocacy initiatives that mainstream gender and promote social cohesion between both banks.

· Assist in advocacy and promotion of human rights in all activities, ensuring that the rights of different marginalized groups, in particular women and girls, are upheld at the UNCT inter-agency coordination level.

· Participate in and support the design and preparation of the events, capacity building activities, dialogue sessions, and awareness-raising activities aimed at increasing social cohesion and sustaining peace, focused on gender mainstreaming and promotion of non-discrimination relevant to cross-river initiatives.

· Support the development of advocacy actions and awareness raising materials on prevention of early marriages among Roma girls, and awareness raising activities on gender-based violence for Roma women.

· Support with development and dissemination of awareness-raising actions related to protecting the human rights of the most marginalized groups, and promotion of gender equality.

· Assist with regular human rights monitoring and drafting of human rights updates on the impact of the energy crisis on the most marginalized groups, including women, in the Transnistrian region.

· Carry out other related functions and duties as needed.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: 

· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark International Volunteer Day); 
· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; 
· Provide annual and end-of-assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities; 
· Contribute with articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; 
· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; 
· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.