Human Rights Mechanisms Intern

Job Description

Duties and Responsibilities

This announcement broadcasts international internship assignments either with the Human Rights Council Branch or the Universal Periodic Review Branch, both located within the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division (HRCTMD) of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Candidates will be recruited to support only one of the above-mentioned Branches but might be also exposed to the work of the other Branch.Therefore, candidates are strongly requested to clearly indicate in their application the Branch of their preference. OHCHR (https://www.ohchr.org/en/ohchr_homepage) is the leading UN entity on human rights, whose mission is to work for the protection of all human rights for all people; to help empower people to realize their rights; and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

The Human Rights Council Branch (HRCB) serves as the Secretariat of the Human Rights Council (HRC). Established through the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 60/251 in 2006, the HRC is an inter-governmental body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe with a platform to discuss thematic human rights issues and situations. Servicing three formal sessions each year and its special sessions, HRCB provides support to the activities of the HRC President and the Bureau throughout the year. HRCB also provides support to the work of the Advisory Committee, the confidential Complaints Procedure, including servicing the Working Group on Communications and the Working Group on Situations and to the Consultative Group, which considers applications for Special Procedures mandates-holders positions. HRCB also supports informal meetings, consultations and other HRC-related activities during the inter-sessional period and provides office-wide political and procedural advice in relation to other subsidiary bodies of the Council. For more information on the HRC visit: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/home.

The Universal Periodic Review Branch (UPRB) serves as the Secretariat of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which is a mechanism of the HRC. Established through the UNGA Resolution 60/251, the UPR is a State-driven process that involves a review of the human rights records of all United Nations Member States every four and a half years and provides the opportunity for each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situation in their respective countries, whilst fulfilling their human rights obligations. The UPR ensures equal treatment for every country when human rights situations are assessed. More information on the UPR can be found at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/upr/upr-home.

The assignment is performed under the overall guidance of the Chiefs of HRCB and UPRB. The intern reports to the Human Rights Officers responsible for the internship program within HRCB and UPRB. The intern shall support OHCHR in fulfilling its mission to work for the protection of all human rights for all people; help empower people to realize their rights; and assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

Daily responsibilities of interns will depend on the individual’s background.

Responsibilities with the Human Rights Council Branch may include but are not limited to:

• Draft daily notes of proceedings for information sharing;
• Assist in finalizing draft reports, which involves precise and thorough verification to ensure that all relevant information is fully reflected in the report;
• Prepare the statistics report relating to the organization of work of the Council, which includes collecting and reviewing detailed data on the number of participants by category, the number of plenary and closed meetings, including minutiae on the use of conference time, breakdown of interventions, total volume of documentation issued for the Council, voting on resolutions, decisions and President’s statements and other relevant details such as gender and geographical balance;
• Contribute to analysis into the trends affecting the Council’s work and make suggestions for improvement;
• Prepare draft summaries of communications falling under the Council’s Complaint Procedure;
• Prepare draft responses to correspondence as appropriate;
• Assist in the preparation and servicing of the meetings of the Working Group on Communications and the Working Group on Situations;
• Follow-up on parallel activities organized by the Office, by the Department of Public Information and by non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
• Draft summaries for information sharing or assist in drafting media highlights for the press;
• Assist with outreach activities (i.e. Human Rights Council Extranet, Twitter, SMS Alerts);
• Attend to queries by NGOs;
• Perform other related duties as requested by supervisor, as appropriate.

Responsibilities with the Universal Periodic Review Branch may include but are not limited to:

Assist staff members in the service of countries’ reviews before, during and after the UPR Working Group (WG) sessions.

• During the UPR sessions, the intern will assist staff members in:
(i) the drafting of sections of the UPR WG report and UPR Outcome report under the staff members’ supervision; and
(ii) Secretariat management related tasks, including compiling lists of delegations, drafting/translating correspondence to participants, handling communication and technology tools, drafting ad hoc summaries, providing data research and statistics support, supporting media-related tasks, taking notes during UPR-related side events, and other tasks connected with the session.

• Inter-sessionally, the intern will assist staff members in:
(i) preparation of UPR pre-session documents (compilation and summary), including research and analysis of human rights information and trends, and documents and activities related to the UPR WG session and adoption of the UPR Outcomes;
(ii) indexing UPR recommendations;
(iii) thematic research into specific areas of the UPR work;
(iv) preparation of training material, notes, bullet points, electronic material (infographics, presentations and video snapshots); and
(v) any other task relevant to the UPRB activities such as organization of and/or participation in meetings, panels, etc.

Skills:

• Skills in research, analysis and drafting human rights documents are highly desirable.
• Skills in data collection and analysis are an asset.
• Skills and knowledge of standard MS software applications, including MS Excel and MS PowerPoint, and tools to create infographics, such as Piktochart or Canva, are desirable.
• Have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which include willingness to try and understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views.

Academic Qualifications:

To qualify for the United Nations Secretariat internship program applicants must, at the time of the application, be enrolled in, or have completed, the final academic year of a first-level university degree program (i.e. minimum bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree); or be enrolled in, or have completed, a graduate school program (second university degree or equivalent, or higher - i.e. Master’s degree or equivalent or higher), preferably in the area of law, political science, international relations, social science or a related field with a university degree as defined above.

Academic knowledge in human rights and international human rights mechanisms is highly desirable.

Language:

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required for the internship.
• Knowledge of an additional official UN language is an advantage.
• Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the official languages of the United Nations Secretariat.

DEADLINE: DECEMBER 30, 2025