Environmental Rights Specialist at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the responsible Legal Officer in the Frontiers in Environmental Law Unit of the Environmental Rule of Law Branch in the Law Division the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

•  Support the implementation of Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights in particular Area 5 on Climate Justice
•  Implement OHCHR-UNEP joint activities on environmental rights;
•  Support UNEP’s work on environmental human rights defenders;
•  Collaborate with partners in advancing the right to a healthy environment;
•  Engage with UN human rights mechanisms including treaty bodies, Special Procedures;
•  Support integration of the right to a healthy environment in multilateral environmental agreements;
•  Assist Member States to address priorities in the nexus of human rights, gender equality, and the environment;
•  Conduct legal research on a diverse range of assigned issues related to the right to a healthy environment;
•  Support capacity building of UNEP staff in human rights, gender equality, and the environment;
•  Support the production of websites, publications, posters, and public information activities; and,
•  Support various meetings on human rights and environment including through preparing relevant documents. Results/Expected Outputs
•  Background materials and summaries of environmental law meetings according to standards required by the Law Division and consistent with UN style format and protocol.
•  High-quality well-reasoned and clearly written recommendations, opinions, and identification of issues on environmental law and human rights issues.
•  Clarity on the main intergovernmental and inter-agency processes relevant to international environmental and human rights law, global environmental sustainability, and sustainable development agendas.
•  High-quality legal research on international environmental and human rights law including analysis and presentation of key information to facilitate decision-making.
•  Develop and implement capacity-building programmes in environmental and human rights law.
•  Diplomatic interaction with confidence and effectiveness with Member States.

Requirements

Required experience

• 3 years of experience in relevant fields; of which at least two years are in environmental law or human rights law.
• Experience working on the intersection between human rights and the environment is advantageous.
• You are creative, enthusiastic, and willing to learn more, with a problem-solving mindset
• You are able to communicate and convince many diverse audiences, and the ability to work effectively with a wide range of various actors.
• You know how to handle complexity and evolve in a fast-paced environment by yourself, and take impactful initiatives