UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.
The New York Service Cluster (NYSC) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management. The Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP) It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York. SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.
Thousands of suspected foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and hundreds of children and their caregivers have been captured in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan by state armed forces and non-state armed groups and transferred to detention. An additional tens of thousands of foreign women and children fled areas once controlled by ISIL/Da’esh, with approximately 31,100 Iraqi and 11,400 foreign women and children from more than 50 other countries still in camps in northeast Syria. Ninety per cent of the children in the camps are under the age of 12 and 50 per cent are under age five. Hundreds of additional foreign women and children with alleged links or family ties to ISIL-Khorasan Province, have also been detained in Afghanistan. All these individuals have limited access to food, medical care, clean water, and other basic services. Living conditions are dire, as the population suffers from a lack of adequate shelter, food, sanitation, education opportunities, healthcare, legal assistance and remedies, and prevailing insecurity and violence – all of which has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The protracted humanitarian situation in the camps and detention facilities in northeast Syria and Afghanistan is not sustainable, resulting in the deprivation of human rights and heightened vulnerability for those foreign nationals that remain.
In response to this situation and to support Member States in addressing the protection imperatives, political sensitivities, legal complexities, and security concerns regarding the repatriation and reintegration of nationals with associations to ISIL/Da’esh, in 2020, the UN developed a Global Framework for UN Support on Syria/Iraq Third Country National Returnees (Global Framework). This Global Framework is intended to support Member States to 1) protect and address the needs of returnee victims, including children, and 2) to develop comprehensive and tailored prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration strategies for individuals suspected of committing terrorist acts or offenses, as outlined in resolutions 2178 (2014) and 2396 (2017). Such strategies must be undertaken in accordance with international human rights law, international refugee law, and as applicable, international humanitarian law, be gender-responsive and age-appropriate.
The Global Framework enables a coordinated “whole-of-UN” response to the situation of individuals returning from Iraq and Syria, mainstreaming, and integrating human rights-based, age-appropriate, and gender-responsive approaches to address the needs of men, women, boys, and girls. The Global Framework also emphasizes that human rights considerations, protection needs, and a solid gender analysis, will need to be integrated and mainstreamed into every proposed action, backed, and supported by dedicated human rights and gender experts, grounded in national legal frameworks and fully compliant with international law, including human rights, humanitarian, and refugee law.
To further its understanding of where and how it can apply the Global Framework to further support the Government of Maldives (GoM) with the return of Maldivian Nationals from northeast Syria and Afghanistan the UN plans to conduct a comprehensive Joint Scoping Exercise (JSE). The JSE will bring together UN legal, human rights, gender, security, children protection and humanitarian expertise to identify needs and develop a risk-informed joint framework for the UN and GoM which articulates the principles and minimum conditions, resource mobilization strategies, and programmatic direction and activities for the provision of UN support.
The United Nations is seeking a senior consultant to coordinate the JSE.
This position will be recruited through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), an operational arm of the United Nations, which supports the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement, and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors, and United Nations organizations.
UNOPS has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office for Counter Terrorism to implement the project activities for UN Global Framework on Individuals Returned from Syria and Iraq.
This three-month consultancy will be based in Male, Maldives and may require travel nationally. In case of travel restrictions at the international or national level due to the prevailing COVID19 pandemic, work will be undertaken remotely.
The incumbent of this consultancy will be personnel of UNOPS, under its full responsibility.