UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Senior Protection Assistant at the UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein in Geneva, Job Opening 38877
The UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein is located in Bern and works closely with authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other relevant actors in Switzerland and Liechtenstein for the protection of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people. It also works to find durable solutions for refugees.
To provide general counselling to persons of concern approaching the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, the Office maintains a Senior Protection Assistant position, to be encumbered at 50% with two staff based at the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.
To fill this position, we are recruiting a
Senior Protection Assistant (G5) 50%, 1 year, renewable, located in Geneva
Under the supervision of the Senior Legal Associate and in close cooperation with the Protection Team, the Senior Protection Assistant will work to enhance the protection of refugees and persons of concern, and promote international and regional refugee law and good practices through individual case work, monitoring of protection standards and advocacy for UNHCR’s positions and recommendations.
Duties
The duties of the Senior Protection Assistant in the Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein as outlined in the standard job description on UNHCR’s vacancy portal include more specifically:
- Act as focal point and first line response for individual cases (receive and counsel visitors; respond to emails, letters and telephone calls; ensure maintenance of the IC data base; identify and discuss complex cases with the protection team).
- Support ongoing resettlement programme with Switzerland.
- Support the submission of cases for humanitarian visa and family reunification requests.
- Cooperate with the new reception centre Rigot.
- Supervise protection interns.
- Handle any other tasks which may come up in this context.
Required qualifications and work experience:
- Completion of secondary school. Certificate/training in protection related issues (Swiss asylum law, international law, international relations) is required.
- Job experience relevant to the function: minimum 2 years.
Desired qualifications and work experience:
- Good computer skills.
- Experience in the domain of refugees/asylum, including experience in managing relations with external partners.
- Experience in dealing with individual cases and in individual counselling.
- Previous experience with the authorities, especially in the Swiss context, and UNHCR.
- Experience in applying international refugee law, human rights law and Swiss asylum law to individual cases.
Languages:
- French, German, English – all three essential. French at mother tongue level, German and English at least at B2 level.
- Italian desirable, other languages are of advantage.
Position start date: 1 December 2022 or later
How to apply
Please submit your application for job opening 38877 “Senior Protection Assistant (Office for Switzerland & Liechtenstein)” through UNHCR’s vacancies portal https://www.unhcr.org/careers.html.
Closing date: 14 August 2022
Kindly note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Test and interviews will presumably take place in the last week of August.
The advertised position is a General Service position. General Service Staff are recruited locally and are required to be legally present in the country where the post they are applying for is situated.
For further questions, please contact Ms Tina Vidmar, vidmar[at]unhcr.org.
We are looking forward to your application.