Criminal Justice Specialist

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works in approximately 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequality and exclusion. The program helps countries to developing policies, leadership skills, partnership skills, institutional capacities, and to building resilience to sustainable development results.

UNDP implements several projects in different areas, offering its partners technical, operational and management assistance through access to methodologies, specialized knowledge, specialized advice and a wide international network of technical cooperation.

To contribute to human development, poverty reduction and the country's growth in priority areas, UNDP Brazil has a constant mission to align its services with the needs of a dynamic, multifaceted and diverse country. The projects are carried out in partnership with the Brazilian government, international financial institutions, the private sector and civil society.

The project “Strengthening and monitoring innovation actions and improvement of the penal and socio-educational systems, in line with national and international human rights principles and guidelines” aims to work on the development of innovative methodologies and actions with a focus on reestablishing regular and adequate functioning of the prison and socio-educational system and produce subsidies to strengthen the monitoring and inspection of official interventions in these systems, in line with national and international human rights principles and guidelines. In particular, The project works to provide CNJ with tools to: (i) promote the development of mandates and capabilities (constitutional, conventional and legal) of the Judiciary to overcome bottlenecks and obstacles that hinder individual performance and better collective action by magistrates in the criminal and socio-educational systems, notably to protect the positions of more vulnerable populations, and (ii) action to enable full and complete compliance with the decision (on the merits) handed down by the Federal Supreme Court in the ADPF 347, which consolidated the understanding regarding the existence of an unconstitutional state of affairs in Brazilian prisons and determined the agreement and monitoring of a national plan and state and district plans aimed at overcoming a situation of structural disarray and massive and systematic violation of fundamental rights, which prevents the implementation of the grammar and programs of principles present in the Federal Constitution, in the International Human Rights Treaties and in ordinary Legislation.
To achieve these objectives, the project is organized into 6 axes, which correspond to the intermediate results expected for the project:

1 - Implementation, strengthening and monitoring/evaluation of actions that guarantee the regular functioning of the penal system
2 - Implementation, strengthening and monitoring/evaluation of actions that guarantee the regular functioning of the socio-educational system
3 - Improvement and quantitative and qualitative increase in the collection and production of data from the penal and socio-educational systems,
4 - Improvement, strengthening and monitoring of care strategies for the most vulnerable populations in interface with the penal and socio-educational systems
5 - Technical assistance to the CNJ for advocacy with 1st and 2nd degree magistracy, through the creation of awareness and communication channels, dissemination of content, education, training, interaction strategies, dialogue and other actions that allow better instrumentalization of the information of the performance options of Brazilian judges, enabling them to act more comprehensively towards the population and its inequalities
6 - Efficient management and knowledge management of the project carried out.

The UN Volunteer will work with a focus on Axis 1 mentioned above, with an emphasis on actions addressing both the entry and exit points of the prison system, as well as the safeguarding of the fundamental rights of persons deprived of liberty. This includes initiatives such as non-custodial measures, electronic monitoring, custody hearings, prison capacity regulation, the protection of the rights of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, as well as other projects aimed at overcoming prison overcrowding, with particular attention to initiatives related to enhancing the judiciary’s role in drug policy.

The UN Volunteer Criminal Justice Specialist will be responsible, under the supervision of the Technical Coordinator of the Non-Custodial Measures Unit, for supporting the implementation of the actions foreseen in this area, contributing to the fulfillment of the established workplan and the quality of deliverables, in close coordination with the CNJ and UNDP teams. To this end, the following indicative activities are envisaged:

1. Collaborate in the development of initiatives aimed at enhancing the judiciary’s role within the framework of drug policy;
2. Support the implementation of strategic actions and projects related to the activities foreseen for the team;
3. Provide support in the drafting of texts, reports, official communications, and other documents required for management, information, systematization, knowledge, and development of the ongoing actions of the team;
4. Contribute to the organization of events and trainings, providing technical, administrative, and management support to the team’s coordination;
5. Record and monitor the team’s actions, based on the definition of targets and priority deliverables, as well as the management strategies and monitoring tools established by UNDP and CNJ;
6. Advise the team’s coordination on the management and execution of contracted consultancies, including the technical drafting of terms of reference proposals, and the review of deliverables, reports, and assessments;
7. Participate in technical meetings, capacity-building initiatives, and other related activities, as requested by the supervisor and in accordance with the institutional workplan;
8. Provide technical support for the systematization of good practices, local institutional capacity development, and the implementation of cross-cutting actions under the Project;
9. Perform other tasks as required by the designated supervisor.