The consultant will be tasked with taking the lead in drafting a guide on the applicable and FTF related customary international law and human rights law. The guide shall include a synopsis on law related to the personal right of a prisoner to return to their country of nationality under specific conditions laid down in various international instruments and human rights instruments as well as in customary international law. S/he is expected to pay attention to designing a clear and comprehensible guide suitable for policymakers, legislators and representatives from related official decision-making entities.
The primary reference for the guide will be the text of the applicable customary international law and human rights law, and the related Security Council Resolutions which call upon all Member States, in accordance with their obligations under international law, to cooperate in efforts to address the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters, including the prosecution, and rehabilitation and reintegration strategies for returning foreign terrorist fighters.
The guide shall also reflect on the UN mandated investigative mechanism for documenting ISIS crimes in Iraq, the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability Against Da'esh/ISIL Crimes (UNITAD), and suggest whether UNITAD could serve as a model for a similar investigative mechanism for FTFs in Syria or not.
In addition to the above, the legislative resource guide is also expected to inform on potential practical obstacles of the resocialization and reintegration process of FTFs, including societal-rejection and stigmatization, and to share practical examples of ‘good practice’ from some countries. The adoption of a gender perspective must be addressed in the guide as well.
In order to involve a wide range of expertise in the preparation of the guide, the consultant will be in charge of coordinating the validation of the final draft of the guide during and following the organization of a virtual expert group meeting, including the subsequent incorporation of relevant feedback received.
The guide will be developed in English. It will be made available to Member States and further disseminated amongst policymakers, researchers and UNODC’s network of Field Offices. Subject to the availability of funding, the guide will be translated into other languages of the United Nations. It is expected that the tool will be suitable for convening workshops with national counterparts during technical assistance programmes.
home-based
April-June 2021 (30 working days)
The UNODC mission is to make the world safer from crime, drugs and terrorism. Responses to these threats require a criminal justice system in which police, prosecution, courts and prisons function and interact effectively, within the context of the rule of law and human rights obligations and standards. In the context of global counter-terrorism efforts, UNODC is mandated to provide requesting Member States specialized assistance on the legal and criminal justice aspects of countering and preventing terrorism. As such, UNODC implements technical assistance programs in the MENA Region and Central Asia, inter alia with the aim of enhancing partners capacity to manage threats posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs), and to encourage partners’ cooperation in repatriating their FTF nationals in custody in Syria and elsewhere.
UNODC seeks to enhance partner nation’s law enforcement, corrections, and justice sector agencies capacity, to manage and mitigate the threat of terrorist and FTF prisoners utilizing international corrections best practice. The program builds on implementation of international commitments made through the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) that encourage Member States to, inter alia, develop tools that can help address radicalization to violence and terrorist recruitment, and to develop risk assessments to assess the risks of prison inmates’ susceptibility to terrorist recruitment and radicalization to violence, and develop tailored and gender-sensitive strategies to address and counter terrorist narratives within the prison system, consistent with international humanitarian law and human rights law, as applicable and in accordance with relevant international law.
The near- and long-term implications of SDF detention facilities in Syria and elsewhere, and the disposition of foreign-terrorist fighters (FTFs) are a concern. Efforts are done to work and to address and mitigate security challenges at the facilities, but this serves only as a short-term not a long-term solution. The International Community can mitigate the risks associated with these populations by facilitating repatriations, training and equipping guard forces, and providing the funding required to improve prison infrastructure. Ultimately, the best way to alleviate this problem is to reduce the numbers of detainees through repatriation. The ISIS detainee and IDP populations represent more than 60 nations. Full resolution requires a comprehensive diplomatic and international effort. This problem will not go away by ignoring it and can only be addressed by the international community working together to accept its shared responsibilities.
It is acknowledged that the reintegration of FTFs is difficult, but the increasingly poor conditions of prisons and camps seem to bring more unrest among detainees, which risks further riots and escapes. During their detention, FTFs remain at risk of being further radicalized by and networking with other foreign ISIS inmates. The potential for escape is high, as is the likely threat posed by mobile and untraceable citizens with combat experience seeking to link up with other jihadists worldwide. There is a real and imminent danger of an uncontrolled dispersal of FTFs.
Under both customary international law and human rights law, the admission to a State primarily depends on nationality. The essence of nationality can be said to lie in the State’s duty to admit its nationals and allow them to reside within its territory. Such a duty exists first and foremost vis-à-vis other States, meaning that it is an obligation that is needed to balance States’ sovereign prerogative to regulate the presence of foreigners on their territory. Under international human rights law the State’s obligation to admit its nationals becomes the individual’s right to enter and reside free from expulsion in his/her country of nationality. Pursuant to Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), “everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”, Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) further provides that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country”. The Human Rights Committee (HRC) in its General Comment No. 27 has clarified that the reference to the concept of arbitrariness in this context is intended to emphasize that it applies to all State’s action and that there are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right to enter one’s own country could be reasonable.
Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in law, criminology, social sciences or related discipline is required. A first level university degree in similar fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience: At least 10 years of professional work experience in the field of criminal justice, in particular prison/penal reform, penal law including proven experience as a scholar is required.
An in-depth knowledge of the current state of research on guide on international law, constitutional law, and human rights law at primary and subsidiary levels and related regional and national good practices is required.
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.