Senior Advocacy Associate (Caribbean)

1. Overview of Services

The Human Dignity Trust (the ‘Trust’) is seeking to contract a Senior Advocacy Associate (the ‘SAA’) to input into the development and delivery of key aspects of the Trust’s legislative reform work in the English-speaking Caribbean.

• Location: English-speaking Caribbean
• Languages Required: English (essential)
• Starting Date: 8 January 2024
• End Date/Duration of Assignment: 31 March 2025
• Total number of days over 15 months: 225
• Fees: dependent on experience and location

2. The Human Dignity Trust

2.1 About Us

The Human Dignity Trust is a legal charity based in London, UK that supports local lawyers and human rights defenders to uphold human rights and constitutional law in countries where private, consensual same-sex sexual conduct is criminalised.

Currently, 66 jurisdictions worldwide maintain these criminal laws. Legal provisions that criminalise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people put them beyond the protection of the law, fostering a climate of fear, stigma and violence. These provisions also violate constitutional and international human rights law.

The Trust provides pro bono legal and communications technical assistance at the request of, and in collaboration with, human rights defenders, local lawyers and other partners who wish to use the courts to challenge the laws that criminalise same-sex intimacy or related repressive governmental actions that are justified on the basis of the criminal law. We also provide legal, communications, and stakeholder engagement technical assistance to governments and civil society groups working to reform discriminatory, colonial-era sexual offence laws and enact legislation that protects LGBT people, women, persons living with disabilities and other marginalised groups. Since our inception in 2011, we have worked with partners in over 25 countries in all regions of the world.

Our legal technical assistance is carried out by our expert staff team in collaboration with a panel of leading international law firms and barristers who assist us pro bono, and in the case of our legislative reform work also with our Commonwealth Group of Experts comprised of legislative drafters, lawyers, academics and other subject-matter experts.

3. Background and Purpose

The Trust is currently engaged in providing legal and communications technical assistance for both legislative reform and litigation work globally, including in the English-speaking Caribbean region. Our focus is on exploring and advancing opportunities to decriminalise LGBT people, to effect wider change to sexual offence laws, and to develop certain forms of protective legislation such as hate crime and equal opportunity laws. In the coming years, depending on funding, the Trust is anticipating being able to expand our support for this type of work in the region, while ensuring it is locally informed and driven.

To this end, the Trust is looking to contract a SAA, with proven success in promoting human rights through legal and/or policy change in jurisdictions that criminalise or have recently decriminalised private, same-sex, consensual sexual activity. The SAA will play an important part in identifying, exploring, and advancing opportunities for legislative reform in the region to decriminalise LGBT people and/or to effect wider change to sexual offence laws, and develop certain forms of protective legislation such as hate crime and equal opportunity laws.

The SAA will be based and have extensive experience working in the Caribbean, will be a strategic thinker, and will be able to build and maintain strong networks with diverse stakeholders across the region, including civil society, lawyers and senior government officials. They will have a strong understanding of human rights law and excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.

The SAA will work closely with our small London-based team of lawyers, researchers, communications experts, administrative staff, and will be expected to travel several times per year regionally, and at least once to London, to engage with activists, lawyers, elected and government officials, and other stakeholders.

Regrettably, as a consequence of the nature of the Trust’s work, the SAA will be subjected to distressing critiques of LGBT people, in particular, and the successful individuals will have to tolerate this with resilience, tact, and professionalism.

4. Services

The SAA shall:

• Input to the development and delivery of the Trust’s regional legislative reform, communications, and stakeholder engagement strategies in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders;
• Monitor the regional and local legal, political and civil society environment and context for opportunities to strengthen and expand the Trust’s work in the region;
• Contribute to the successful delivery of the Trust’s strategy in the region;
• Build and strengthen relationships with existing and potential stakeholders in civil society, government, international agencies, the legal profession, the media, and academia within the region;
• Attend key regional conferences and events to network with key stakeholders and to monitor and advise the Trust on relevant developments;
• Contribute to the design of the Trust’s programmatic activities, in line with our strategic objectives;
• Deliver on programmatic activities, in close collaboration with others at the Trust;
• Deliver against budgets for some programmatic activities within the region;
• Provide financial and activity reporting for the Trust and its donors;
• Deliver any other tasks as reasonably required by the Trust for the region.

5. Deliverables

The following deliverables shall be submitted to the Trust by the SAA:

• Attendance at a co-creation workshop in London in early 2024 (likely week commencing 22 January);
• Attendance at a wrap-up workshop in February 2025 (likely in London, depending on budget);
• A regional strategic action plan by 15 February 2024;
• A concept note and proposed list of invitees for a regional thematic conference by 15 December 2024;
• Up to seven regional scoping and follow-up trips conducted between April 2024 and March 2025, and other meetings and activities as agreed in the action plan;
• A detailed narrative report following each trip, including key recommendations for action points/follow-up by the Trust;
• Quarterly narrative progress reports (ongoing between 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025), with an evaluation of the Action Plan with necessary agreed amendments by 30 September 2024.

Please note, the selected SAA shall agree to assign to the Trust all right, title and interest in and to all the Deliverables produced, including without limitation everything outlined above and any analyses, reports, presentations, recordings, footage, which shall be the sole and exclusive property of the Trust. The SAA shall not make any use of any of the Deliverables in any manner whatsoever without the Trust’s prior written consent.

For the avoidance of doubt, any intellectual property (i) owned by the selected SAA prior to the signing of any contract between the selected SAA and the Trust, and (ii) any intellectual property independently developed by the selected SAA otherwise than pursuant to any contract with the Trust, would not be caught by the above assignment.

6. Payment

Payments shall be effected upon receipt of invoices and according to the following payment intervals:

Payment Interval: Monthly, between January 2024 and March 2025

Amount: TBC

7. Requirements

Essential

• Degree or equivalent professional experience in law, human rights, strategic communications, intersectional advocacy, or a related field;
• Expertise in promoting human rights through legal and/or policy change, ideally in common law jurisdictions and particularly through legislative reform;
• Significant experience working on complex, structural, human-rights compliant legal change;
• Ability to communicate complex legal issues to a wide range of stakeholders;
• Experience working in or on several jurisdictions within the region, particularly in Commonwealth jurisdictions;
• An understanding of the LGBT human rights movement or intersectional human rights movements within the region and globally;
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English, with a keen attention to detail;
• Ability to understand and adapt to differing and often sensitive social and cultural contexts, whilst employing compassion, tact and discretion;
• High level of computer literacy and familiarity with all Microsoft Office packages;
• Excellent organisational skills, including ability to prioritise tasks and manage deadlines;
• Ability and willingness to undertake regional and international travel, sometimes at short notice;
• Knowledge of and commitment to the human rights of LGBT people.

Desirable

• Experience of strategic communications within an NGO, IGO or government;
• Expertise in legislative reform with a focus on human rights;
• Experience of project management.

8. Reporting

The SAA shall report to the Trust’s Senior Lawyer(s) who will oversee the Deliverables. During the reporting process, the SAA also will seek written approval from the Senior Lawyer(s) should any need to depart from the agreed outline arise or for any other issue entailing a change of the conditions detailed in these Terms of Reference.

9. Code of Conduct and Confidentiality

The SAA is/are under an obligation to confirm that they have no conflicts of interest and to report all potential conflicts of interest prior to the signing of a contract in relation to the Services detailed under this Terms of Reference, including all personal or professional relationships that may compromise their independence or objectivity.

The SAA shall act in a respectful and professional manner and shall not disclose information or make statements that could harm the Trust, its staff or Board or its partner organisations. The SAA shall not disclose any confidential or classified information connected to this assignment to any third party, either during or after the consultancy. The obligation of confidentiality includes information on personnel matters obtained during this contract period. The SAA shall be subject to confidentiality and non-disclosure obligations as part of the Trust’s standard contracts and must comply with all relevant data protection laws and regulations including the General Data Protection Regulation.