Senior Legal Associate

B

FamilyFamily

GS7

General Service

Reason

Regular > Regular Assignment

June 20 2025

Senior Legal Associate

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Senior Legal Associate is a member of the protection /legal team and normally reports to a higher grade professional staff.

The Senior Legal Associate assists an office in providing quality timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern. He is also required to assist an office in ensuring that persons of concern are involved with the office in making decisions that affect them whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern and authorities as well as protection and assistance partners.
The incumbent may supervise interns volunteers and interpreters and may also supervise some support staff. S/he assists the protection team in making sure that protection standards operational procedures and practices in protection delivery are in line with the international standards and provides functional protection support and advice to other protection colleagues and other units.

S/he contributes to implementing and adjusting when necessary the offices comprehensive protection strategy including the role of UNHCR in the context of further strengthening the national capacity of relevant actors both governmental e.g. Ministry of Justice and non-governmental e.g. NGOs and lawyers. In this regard s/he represents the office externally on protection doctrine and policy as needed and under the guidance by the supervisor.

S/he also works independently in constantly monitoring relevant legal and political developments in both asylum and statelessness issues and provides recommendations to the protection team on appropriate advocacy and interventions for the office to make.

The incumbent will be conducting researches and following the judicial developments at the national and regional level. S/he will be supporting the preparation of legal materials that are shared with the national counterparts as recommendations. S/he will be engaged in preparing compilation of good practices and comparative charts on a broad spectrum of topics and reporting of the developments. The incumbent will also support organizing capacity-building activities through preparation of materials and presenting the topics.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter UN Staff Regulations and Rules UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core functional cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCRs core values of professionalism integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
- Assist in the preparation of legal advice and drafting of position papers and guidelines on pertinent legal and operational issues.
- Stay abreast of the domestic legal issues and pertinent laws regarding persons of concern and advise the office accordingly.
- Contribute to advocacy towards proper interpretation of law and doctrine as well as in the development of standards of protection.
- Liaise with the Legal Affairs Service on issues related to immunities of UNHCR personnel and provide corresponding guidance and support locally to concerned staff.
- Liaise and intervene with national regional or local authorities in relation to the above areas of responsibility as required.
- Assist in the organization of training sessions for legal professionals and asylum case workers and judges in the field of asylum.
- Consistently apply international and national law and UNHCR policies and standards.
- Assist the office in providing legal counselling to persons of concern.
- Assist in the collection and analysis of relevant legal and protection information.
- Provide assistance in UNHCRs legal publications in dissemination of legal information on refugee law in UNHCRs legal website and other legal advice as needed.
- Support translation of legal and policy documents and act as interpreter at high level meetings with the authorities when needed.
- Provide advice and support the office reviewing their contracts.
- Provide support on a wide range of corporate and institutional issues including on the interpretation and application of UNHCR regulations rules policies and procedures within the local legislation context.
- Assist the office in providing legal counselling to personnel on various types of contractual arrangements.
- In close cooperation with the Protection team assist UNHCRs drafting of law commentaries to draft national legislation related to refugee law in compliance with UNHCRs positions and Guidelines.
- Support the Protection team in maintaining and strengthening relations with governmental as well as non-governmental actors in order to strengthen a network for assisting refugees and asylum seekers and also in strategically approach both national and local political figures.
- Prepare drafts for office correspondence concerning protection issues.
- Monitor/make briefing on legislative/judicial developments for the purpose of preparing office responses and/or to feed into briefing kits for external visitors.
- Support the implementation of activities with various institutions and civil society partners.

- Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).

- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For G7 - 4 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 2 years relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher

Field(s) of Education
Not applicable.

Certificates and/or Licenses
Human Rights
International Humanitarian Law

Law
Political Science
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Experience in dealing with authorities as well as within a multicultural environment.

Desirable
Good knowledge of UNHCRs protection mandate. Work experience in human rights issues and/or refugee law is an asset.

Functional Skills
CO-Drafting and Documentation
IT-Computer Literacy
LE-Legal Research
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.


All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse harassment including sexual harassment sexism gender inequality discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening shortlisting and selection of candidates.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Operational Context:

India currently hosts more than 261000 refugees and asylum seekers. These include some 91000 Sri Lankan refugees and 73400 Tibetans directly assisted by the Government of India. There are 47881 individuals registered under UNHCRs mandate primarily from Afghanistan Myanmar and other countries. In addition around 49000 Myanmar nationals have sought refuge in the Northeast of India and live in a refugee-like situation. UNHCR works with the Government of India to offer protection and find solutions for refugees and asylum seekers.

As a result of reprioritization UNHCR India is refocusing its efforts on three core objectives: mandate-critical protection and solutions work; lifesaving and emergency activities with a focus on the most vulnerable; and essential resource mobilization and advocacy for protection and inclusion.

With refugees and asylum seekers spread across 13 different locations across the country UNHCR relies on its 8 NGO partners for support. It funds activities that complement or facilitate access to essential services and assist the most vulnerable people with humanitarian assistance. UNHCR also works with various partners and key stakeholders to advocate for greater inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). The office is engaged in advocacy with the government to support the development of a national framework for refugee protection and advocates on issues related to the use of alternatives to detention access to documentation amongst other key areas. UNHCRs office is in New Delhi and has a field presence in Chennai Tamil Nadu State.

Desired Candidate Profile :

The Senior Legal Associate is part of the Protection Unit and reports to the Associate Protection Officer (NOB). As a senior member of the protection unit s/he is expected to work closely with his/her team other units in the office partners and external stakeholders.

The Senior Legal Associate is responsible for the supervision of the legal protection team in the Protection Unit. The candidate is required to have in depth knowledge of and experience in the national/state level legal and policy frameworks of relevance to the protection of refugees in India as well as demonstrated experience in policy development and advocacy. The candidate is expected to have management experience of leading teams. S/he should have demonstrated knowledge of UNHCRs protection principles and standards and practical experience in translating principles and standards into strategies and tools in support of effective protection delivery.

The candidate is expected to build and maintain government relationships at central and local level develop policy proposals and engage in advocacy with the aim of promoting inclusion and access to public services and engaging the Government of India in gradually assuming responsibility for the protection of refugees.

The candidate is required to have proven analytical and drafting skills as well as experience in developing protection and solution strategies and coordinate the implementation with external interlocutors. These include topics related to advocacy judicial engagement alternatives to detention academic collaboration statelessness communication with communities in line with accountabilities to affected populations. The candidate is expected to be well versed with international and national legal standards and is able to guide legal interventions including strategic litigation impacting refugee rights in India.

The candidate should have demonstrated experience in capacity building and training for different stakeholders including academia lawyers police and government.

The candidate should have communication and interpersonal/team working skills stakeholder management including academia authorities and civil society as well competencies in political analysis and training. Excellent drafting skills and English language proficiency as well as meeting deadlines strong organizational and time management skills are required for this position. Candidate is expected to have at least two years of managerial role and may also have experience as a Litigator especially in handling human rights issues.

This position is open only to Indian nationals. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted and they will be required to undergo a written test and an interview. The selected candidate will work either from the UNHCR Office or other UNHCR partner locations in New Delhi India.

Education & Professional Work Experience

Essential:

Degree
2.4 years of work experience relevant to the Job profile

Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

Nature of Position:

Living and Working Conditions:

Additional Qualifications

Skills

CO-Drafting and Documentation IT-Computer Literacy LE-Legal Research

Certifications

Human Rights - Other International Law - Other Law - Other Political Science - Other

Competencies

Accountability Analytical thinking Client & results orientation Commitment to continuous learning Communication Empowering & building trust Judgement & decision making Managing performance Organizational awareness Planning & organizing Political awareness Teamwork & collaboration

Additional Information

This position doesnt require a functional clearance