Asylum and Migration Unit Intern Position at UNHCR: Carlo Schmidt Fellowship at UNHCR (Geneva, Switzerland)

Finance October 17, 2023

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Asylum and Migration Unit Intern Position at UNHCR: Carlo Schmidt Fellowship at UNHCR (Geneva, Switzerland) — ©UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

Asylum and Migration Unit Intern Position at UNHCR (Geneva, Switzerland)

Conduct research into legal reference materials relating to protection at sea, trafficking in persons and detention at global and regional level, including for example in the form of case law, reports of human rights mechanisms, policy resources or promising practices from UNHCR or other key stakeholders, resolutions of the UN General Assembly, etc.

Asylum and Migration Unit Intern Position at UNHCR (Geneva, Switzerland)

Terms of Reference

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full-time internship within the Asylum and Migration Unit of the Division of International Protection (DIP) at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Established in December 1950, UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, internally displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. UNHCR currently operates in over 130 countries, using its long expertise to protect and care for millions.

Organisational context

The internship will be placed with UNHCR’s Asylum and Migration Unit, within the Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section of the Division of International Protection (DIP). The Asylum and Migration Unit manages the various points of intersection between refugee protection and international migration, including supporting the protection of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons in mixed movement situations. The team works to ensure that migration-management policies, practices and debates take into account the particular international protection needs of asylum-seekers, refugees and stateless people, and acknowledge the legal framework that exists to meet those needs. In doing so, the team collects and analyses data and trends, develops policy and guidance, provide legal and policy advice to UNHCR colleagues and partners and implements activities (including research and capacity building activities) on mixed movements and related issues such as smuggling and trafficking in persons, detention and protection at sea. The team also manages UNHCR’s engagement with the UN Network on Migration and other inter-agency platforms.

The position

The intern will assist with research and analytic assignments as well as administrative tasks related to the management of the knowledge-sharing platforms that the asylum and migration team maintains, including the intranet, Teams channels, relevant pages on Refworld, and external website.
In particular, the intern will be tasked with assisting with the development of the joint IOM/UNHCR Toolkit on mixed movements. The intern will additionally be requested to assist with other tasks related to the work of the team, in particular regarding detention and trafficking and learning interventions being planned with the relevant Regional Bureaus and the Global Learning and Development Center as well as in partnership with the Institute of International Humanitarian Law (IIHL) – Refugee Law Department.
Interns are supervised by the Senior Legal Officer heading the Asylum and Migration Unit but may report to different members of the team in relation to specific tasks.

Duties and responsibilities

1. Research and drafting:
• Conduct research into legal reference materials relating to protection at sea, trafficking in persons and detention at global and regional level, including for example in the form of case law, reports of human rights mechanisms, policy resources or promising practices from UNHCR or other key stakeholders, resolutions of the UN General Assembly, etc.
• Conduct research into practices emerging from the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe and Orderly Migration as well as reported by UNHCR offices in the delivery of their functions on issues related to thematic portfolios of the unit.
• Draft background notes and presentations related to the topics researched.

2. Information management:
• Contribute to the management and strategic expansion of the team’s internal and external knowledge-sharing platforms on asylum and migration, including the team intranet pages, the relevant Refworld pages, UNHCR’s external website, and the Asylum and Migration Team channels.

3. Attending and taking notes at meetings along with relevant UNHCR staff, e.g. partner events (launches, panel discussions etc.), relevant meetings of inter-agency for a (ICAT, UN Migration Network, Inter-Agency Group on protection of refugees and migrants moving by sea, etc.)

4. Any other tasks, upon request, including administrative duties.

Essential minimum qualifications required

In order to be considered for the Carlo Schmidt Fellowship at UNHCR, candidates must meet the following eligibility criteria:
• Students must be at least in their 3rd Bachelor semester
• There must not be more than two years between their last graduation and their application to the Carlo Schmid Programme
• Proof of very good English language skills
• Students must have completed or be enrolled in a study programme in a field relevant or of interest to the work of UNHCR

Desirable qualifications:

• Have a good understanding of human rights and international refugee protection, and research methods;
• Have experience with or knowledge related to mixed movements and/or trafficking in persons and/or protection at sea and/or immigration detention;
• Have excellent communication skills with strong interpersonal and negotiation skills;
• Have good experience using the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint);
• Demonstrate a genuine desire to learn and develop;
• Be highly organised and have a superior level of attention to detail;
• Be able to multi-task and to prioritize appropriately;
• Be a flexible team-player.

Additional positive factors include:
• Language skills (French, Spanish, Russian, or Arabic) are useful but not a requirement for this Fellowship with the Asylum and Migration Unit.

Location

The successful candidate will be either home-based or with the team in the Geneva, Switzerland. The location will be determined prior to the start of the internship, and is dependent upon the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic in both the applicant’s home country and at the duty station.

Conditions & Allowances:

It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 9.00am to 6:00pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).
Allowance: stipend and allowances will be granted according to the rules and regulations established by the UNHCR internship programme

CLICK HERE TO APPLY ONLINE: Asylum and Migration Unit Intern Position at UNHCR