MENA Rights Group
Starting date: Mid-October 2022
Location: Geneva
About MENA Rights Group
MENA Rights Group is a Geneva-based legal advocacy NGO, focusing on the protection and promotion of fundamental rights and freedoms in the Middle East and North Africa. Adopting a holistic approach, we work at both the individual and structural level. We provide legal counselling to victims of human rights violations through recourse to international law mechanisms. In addition, we assess the human rights situation on the ground and bring key issues to the attention of relevant stakeholders to call for legal and policy reform. We are a small and dynamic group of human rights practitioners sharing a passion for the MENA region.
What you will do:
The intern will mostly be working on litigation cases: this involves documenting cases of individuals who have been victims of human rights violations and undertaking appropriate legal action on their behalf. The intern will also be supporting other advocacy actions undertaken by MENA Rights Group.
What we are looking for:
If you want to join our team, you must:
- Be a Swiss/EU citizen or hold a valid work permit for Switzerland;
- Be enrolled in university throughout the duration of the internship, and be able to enter a three-way agreement between you, MENA Rights Group, and your university.
We will not be able to consider candidates who do not meet these two criteria established by the State of Geneva.
And:
- Have a background in law (international law, human rights law) or social sciences with a strong international law component;
- Be passionate about human rights;
- Have demonstrated interest and knowledge of the MENA region;
- Speak and write English fluently; working knowledge of French or Arabic being additional assets;
- Have solid analytical and writing skills;
- Be able to work in a fast-paced environment, i.e., be organised and able to work effectively and independently;
- Ideally, be familiar with social media;
- Share our values and vision;
- Enjoy working in a small and multicultural team.
The internship is for a duration of six months (with a trial period of one month), starting mid-October 2022. We provide our interns with a monthly stipend.
This is normally a full-time position. However, working hours can be adjusted to accommodate the intern if they have classes. The position is based in Geneva.
How to apply
What you need to do to apply:
Send an email to jobs-at-menarights.org with the subject line “Legal Internship – YOUR NAME”.
The application should be in English and contain, in PDF documents:
- A curriculum vitae;
- A motivation letter in the form of an essay explaining your motivation for working with MENA Rights Group and how would you would like to contribute to MRG’s work. We read these letters with great attention. Please specify your earliest starting date and whether you are able to work full time.
If you wish, you can add a maximum of two supporting documents, such as writing samples
The deadline is 15 September 2022. All applications are treated in confidentiality. We will only get in touch with candidates who have been shortlisted.