The rolAs part of the international justice team, FIDH’s representative to the ICC will work closely with colleagues from geographical desks and colleagues across the organisation.

While representing FIDH with external stakeholders in The Hague, this role aims at facilitating and strengthening the engagement of FIDH and its member organisations from around the world with the ICC, States Parties to its Statute and other stakeholders working with the Court.

The role also consists of closely monitoring ICC developments and advocating for meaningful ways to effectively deliver justice to victims and survivors of international crimes. You will implement and develop FIDH’s advocacy work, feeding the international justice desk’s advocacy and communication strategies and plans, and contribute to members’ and partners’ strengthened capacities to support victims’ meaningful access to justice, and to the ICC. Your experience in conducting successful advocacy, in different contexts, and designing and implementing meaningful capacity building activities for civil society actors will be crucial for this role.

In addition to strong inter-personal skills and cross-cultural communication, this role requires very good drafting and editing skills of a variety of written material, in order to convey FIDH’s key messages and recommendations, in the form of advocacy documents or legal submissions. Your skills elaborating communication strategies will complement your strong legal skills, in order to adapt FIDH’s international justice and ICC related outputs to various audiences.

The role also requires strong monitoring and evaluation skills in order to guarantee the effective implementation of multi-annual programmes. Previous experience in project design and fundraising and reporting to donors is an important asset.

This position is also the one of manager of the FIDH’s office in The Hague, which entails ensuring the smooth liaison with FIDH headquarters and the functioning of FIDH’s office in The Hague, including on an administrative and financial level. Strong organisational skills, as well as proactivity and creative thinking are crucial for this role.

Main responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the International Justice Desk, based in Paris, you will be part of FIDH’s International Justice Desk, within the Programmes and Operations department, and will have the following main responsibilities:

A - Contribution to the International Justice Desk strategy and fundraising (about 15%)

• Participate in the drafting of FIDH’s strategic plans, in particular concerning the International Criminal Court and international criminal justice;

• Contribute to the drafting of specific action plans and programmes, notably concerning the ICC;

• Contribute to the communication strategy of the International Justice Desk in coordination with the Communication department ;

• Contribute to the identification of potential donors, the drafting and review of project proposals to donors.

B - Implementation of the International Justice Desk’s programmes and activities on the International Criminal Court : (about 55%)

1) Ensure FIDH representation with ICC representatives, States representatives, media, donors and other NGOs working on the ICC. Develop and strengthen partnerships with these stakeholders.

2) Supervise, implement / participate in :

• Advocacy and training activities in The Hague (« interface »), in support of national member, partner NGOs and victims’ organisations, on the ICC (virtual, or in-person).

• Drafting of FIDH position papers and implementation of advocacy activities towards the ICC and States Parties.

• Elaboration, supervision of translation and dissemination of FIDH external publications (i.e. mission reports, position papers, activities reports).

• Drafting and/or reviewing of observations to ICC strategies and policies open to consultations, and of legal submissions to the ICC (i.e. Article 15 Communications to submit to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, amicus curiae briefs).

• Coordination and close participation in the work and activities of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC).

• Training, advocacy and/or documentation missions as well as seminars on the ICC and international justice, outside of The Hague (in-person or virtual).

3) Monitor and evaluate ICC related projects of the International Justice Desk, including budgetary follow-up.

C – Management of the FIDH office in The Hague (about 20%)

• Ensure the effective functioning of FIDH’s office in The Hague, including on an administrative and finance level, and the smooth liaison with FIDH headquarters in Paris ;

• Supervise part of the work of the international justice and gender-based violence programme officer, based in The Hague, as well as the work of consultants and interns in The Hague

D – Reporting and evaluation of the International Justice Desk activities (about 10%)

• Participate in the reporting and evaluation of the International Justice Desk’s activities;

• Elaborate narrative reports for donors;

• Participate in the drafting of the FIDH annual report concerning international justice and in particular the ICC.

The ideal candidate

Experience and key skills:

• At least 6 years of professional experience in a similar position.

• Track record in conducting advocacy effectively, and demonstrable ability to interact with NGOs, government officials and intergovernmental organisations from around the world with tact, diplomacy and cultural sensitivity. In this framework, experience and knowledge of the main external stakeholders working for or in collaboration with the ICC, in particular in The Hague.

• Very good drafting skills, and proven experience in writing and editing of written materials for a variety of audiences, from advocacy papers, press releases, speeches and social media posts, to legal documents, funding requests and reports to donors.

• Experience in organising and delivering participative training and capacity-building workshops relating to accountability for crimes under international law, both in-person and online, for civil society organisations and practitioners.

• Strong interpersonal skills and aptitude for cross-cultural communication.

• Ability to work efficiently under time pressure, skilled at prioritising and completing multiple tasks with autonomy and team spirit.

• Proven experience in project management, including the monitoring and evaluation of multi-annual programmes.

• Experience working on issues related to victims’ rights at the ICC and sexual and gender based violence would be an asset.

• Experience working closely with NGOs and victims’ organisations around the world would be an asset.

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Law, with specialisation in international criminal or human rights or humanitarian law.

• Very good knowledge of the International Criminal Court, from its founding texts to its current challenges and opportunities.

• Background in human rights.

Languages: Fluency in written and spoken English (level C1/C2) and good knowledge of French is required (level B2/C1). To be noted that both languages are the most used as working languages within FIDH International Secretariat. Language skills in Spanish or Arabic would be an asset.

Location:

• The position is based in The Hague, the Netherlands, and you will need to relocate as soon as possible if not already based there.

• While you would be based in FIDH’s office in The Hague, FIDH offers the possibility of at-home work the modalities of which are to be agreed upon with your supervisor.

• While most of the work will be undertaken from The Hague, you will have to be ready to travel internationally.

Values: You are in total agreement with the values at work in the FIDH International Secretariat (professionalism, respect, commitment, equality, integrity, participation, audacity), as well as with the struggles led by FIDH for the defence of human rights everywhere in the world, as explained in its statutes and through its publications accessible on its website : www.fidh.or

Compensation and benefits

• Contract: Long term contract, governed by Dutch law, with a two months trial period. Full time position (39 hours worked per week).

• Gross salary: up to € 50 000 per year (12 months), based on experience.

• Health coverage: to the salary will be added a monthly reimbursement of the health insurance of the employee up to a maximum gross amount of € 500 monthly, representing up to € 6,000 gross per year.

• Holiday allowance: in the month of May of each calendar year, the employee shall receive a holiday allowance. This allowance is an 8% built up reservation calculated over the monthly remunerations. The holiday allowance is calculated over a period of one year, which period runs from 1 June until 31 May.

• Taxes: statutory payroll taxes and social security contributions will be withheld from the employee’s gross monthly salary, and paid by the employer to the local authorities on the basis of the social security and tax system of The Netherlands. To be noted that the Dutch tax rules may allow a tax reduction pursuant to the “30% ruling” for employees recruited from outside the Netherlands fulfilling certain conditions.

• Remote at-home work: You will work from FIDH’s office in The Hague, The Netherlands. FIDH recognizes that flexible working arrangements are important for work-life balance, and offers the possibility of at-home work, the modalities are to be agreed upon with your supervisor. Please note that a laptop and basic accessories are provided to all employees at the time of hire.

• Paid time off:

  • 25 days of paid vacation per full year worked.

  • 23 compensation days per full year worked (given the basis of 39 hours worked per week).

• Work / Life Balance: FIDH believes in creating a healthy work environment in which  flexible schedules are available. Time to time adjustments of the employee’s hours are possible. These arrangements will be agreed upon beforehand with the supervisors.

FIDH seeks diversity and is committed to equality by not discriminating in its hiring practices on the basis of race, religion, age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status or any other situation protected by French and international human rights law.

Send your CV and a cover letter in English (describing why you are interested in FIDH and summarising your suitability for the position) to

dcarlens@fidh.org

indicating the reference REP ICC 02 23 in the subject line of the email

by 17 March 2023 at the latest
for the attention of Delphine CARLENS, Head of the International Justice Desk.

Interviews will take place as applications are received.

FIDH reserves the right to close the recruitment before the deadline for applications.

Only those candidates whose applications are pre-selected will be contacted.

For people with disabilities, we ask you to indicate in your cover letter any adaptations that would be useful to enable you to participate in the recruitment process in an optimal way.