Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Intern

Daily responsibilities of the intern will depend on the area of assignment within the Section and the respective Secretariat supporting the Treaty Bodies, Treaty Body Capacity Building Program or the Funds, as well as on the individual's background. Duties of the intern may include but are not limited to the following to helping service meetings of the human rights treaty bodies and their respective working groups or the meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Funds.

In particular, the intern may: Prepare country and legal analysis and draft legal background papers for human rights treaty bodies, related to the State party reporting procedure and treaty body-based individual complaints procedure; Conduct research into and draft reports on the jurisprudence of the treaty bodies concerned; Assist with the handling of individual communications received under the different treaty body complaints procedures; Provide support in relation to inter-state communications submitted to the treaty bodies; Assist in the preparation of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) country visits; Take notes during the sessions/pre-sessions, and provide support with administrative duties such as the preparation of documentation and reference files in advance of and during the session; Provide input to outreach and information tasks, including the Branch newsletter; Support the work of the Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI) and the treaty body documentation databases; Conduct research and develop training exercises for use in capacity building activities on reporting by States to the treaty bodies; Prepare the Weekly Human Rights Treaties Branch Update; Assist with preparation of reports and background papers for the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council (HRC) and the annual meeting of Chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies; Support the organization of training activities and development of relevant training material; and Assist with evaluation of project proposals for funding; and perform other duties as requested by the supervisor, as appropriate.

• The minimum educational qualification required is a High School Diploma.
• The applicant must also:
  • (a) be enrolled in, or have completed, a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher); or
  • (b) be enrolled in, or have completed, the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum bachelor’s degree or equivalent);
• We seek candidates with relevant coursework in business administration, management, strategic communications and design, project management, public administration, law and legal administration (criminal justice), or human resources management.
• We are open to a broad range of educational/ project/ volunteering/ research experience backgrounds.
• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this internship fluency in English or French is required, knowledge of the other is an asset. Knowledge of another United Nations official language would be an advantage (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).