Details

Mission and objectives

OHCHR’s office in Mexico works to ensure that institutions, Government authorities, and the United Nations Country Team have adequate information, understanding, and skills to identify human rights concerns and to develop measures to address them effectively. OHCHR-Mexico also works to ensure that civil society and human rights victims have increased awareness of human rights standards and mechanisms.
Main activities are focused on technical cooperation and legal advice on harmonization of legislation, development of indicators on human rights, support the elaboration of public policies with human rights based approach, follow-up the international recommendations, gender and human rights, amongst other issues, and monitoring of human rights situation throughout the country, with emphasis on grave human rights violations (such as enforced disappearances and torture) as well as the situation of human rights defenders and journalists and the right of indigenous peoples to prior consultation.
OHCHR-Mexico is divided into several functional units: Administration, Grave Human Rights Violations, Gender and ESCR, Democratic Space, Vulnerable Groups, Indicators and Public Communications. The UNV would be part of the Democratic Space Unit, which currently consists of a coordinator (international staff) and an international UNV. The Democratic Space Unit personally receives complaints of alleged human rights violations and gives legal orientation to victims, particularly human rights defenders, and journalists. The Democratic Space Unit also participates in field missions to follow up cases of alleged human rights violations, meeting with victims, family members of victims, local NGO´s and government authorities

Context

OHCHR-Mexico is divided into several functional units: Administration, Grave Human Rights Violations, Gender and ESCR, Democratic Space, Vulnerable Groups, Indicators and Public Communications. The UNV would be part of the Vulnerable Groups Unit, which currently consists of a coordinator and two International UNVs. The Vulnerable Groups Unit personally receives complaints of alleged human rights violations and gives legal orientation to victims, particularly indigenous people. The Vulnerable Groups Unit also participates in field missions to follow up cases of alleged human rights violations, meeting with victims, family members of victims, local NGO´s and government authorities.
The UN Volunteer will support the following activities: receiving complaints of alleged human rights violations; participating in field missions and meetings with authorities, civil society organizations and victims; promoting legislative harmonisation and the development of comprehensive public policies; technical assistance to federal and state governments; among others.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Coordinator of the Vulnerable Groups Unit, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
• Research and collect information pertaining to human rights issues through monitoring human rights situations at the field level and from a variety of data sources (e.g. publications and the press) to keep abreast of issues/events and provide up-to-date information;
• Interview human rights victims, particularly indigenous people, relevant authorities, and civil society organizations as part of the documentation of cases;
• Assist in the analysis of information regarding substantive matters in the field of human rights, particularly related to indigenous peoples, and recommend actions to be taken;
• Coordinate activities and strategies related to priority issues with other Units of OHCHR-México;
• Establish working relationships with state and federal authorities and provide them with technical assistance to strengthen the level of compliance with international human rights obligations;
• Document cases of indigenous people’s human rights violations;
• As a part of the good offices mandate of OHCHR-Mexico, act as an observer and/or facilitator in prior consultation processes organized by the federal government, providing detailed advice to the authorities about the implementation of their international obligations and strengthening the rights holders’ knowledge about their rights;
• Dialogue with private companies and businesses related to their projects, which might affect the rights of indigenous peoples and their adherence to the UN guiding principles on business and human rights;
• Assist in the analysis of information regarding substantive matters in the field of human rights and recommend actions to be taken;
• Draft a variety of reports and correspondence relating to human rights matters/cases;
• Participate in human rights training programmes for government officials, representatives of civil society, human rights non-governmental organizations and rights holders;
• Liaise with representatives of the federal and local legislative powers to ensure that the legislation affecting indigenous peoples and communities is in line with international standards and is created with the right perspective and methodology;
• Work with UN and non-governmental partners in the country to integrate human rights in their programmes, including gender considerations;
• Assist in the consolidation of knowledge and necessary tools within the United Nations system in Mexico, in order to mainstream human rights in its actions;
• Assist in establishing working-level cooperation with relevant government ministries and State institutions to assist in strengthening their capacity for the protection and promotion of human rights;
• Receive complaints of alleged human rights violations and give legal advice to victims;
• Perform other tasks as required.