CAT II Legal Expert - SGBV Cases

Project title: Studies in preparation of the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Legal Expert:
General description of the position: The legal expert will be responsible of drafting a report identifying barriers and recommending activities around the police and judiciary system for sexual gender based violence (SGBV).

Expert category:  Cat. II (>6 years of experience)

Qualifications and skills required: University degree in law - Good knowledge of Sierra Leone context (i.e. its judicial system and police) proven by previous assignments - Excellent drafting skills

General professional experience: At least 6 years of professional experience working as legal expert or lawyer or legal consultant or legal analyst

Specific professional experience: At least 3 years of professional experience as expert in a developing country - at least 1 previous assignment as expert for a project with an International Organisation (i.e. EU, UN etc.)

Language skills: Excellent English both oral and writing - Good level of Krio oral is an asset

Minimum number of working days: 20 days

Additional information:  The expert will assess the feasibility of establishing a forensic laboratory for DNA testing samples from SGBV cases in Sierra Leone and will proposed recommendations for alternative initiatives that could reach the objective. Other topics may be proposed by the consultant during the inception phase such as: a) on pursuit and realization of justice for survivors of SGBV: - Justice sector modalities that hinder SGBV case advancement – personnel capacity, trial duration and location, sensitivity to survivors, etc; - Possible Intimidation and stigmatization as deterrents for survivors to pursue justice; - Pressure on survivors to ‘settle’ cases informally, outside of the formal justice system; - Lack of knowledge among the population of their rights and how a survivor may pursue justice (this may be retrieved from NGOs reports); capacity assessment of the police and justice sector in SGBV law enforcement ; - Challenges faced by police and/or justice sector actors in implementing laws, policies, and strategies developed for prevention of SGBV; - Assessment of infrastructure and expertise to collect/maintain/process forensic and other evidence to aid prosecution, including forensic laboratory services to process DNA evidence. The proposed recommendations and alternative activities shall: o include an approximate cost, which may be a range if alternative scenarios are possible based on scale, geography, etc; o be given a relative priority rating of A to C, with A being the most important to pursue, based on approximate cost-benefit analysis and likelihood of success. Research methods are expected to include document review and phone or in-person interviews.