Protection Associate (Legal)

Eight years into the Syria crisis, Lebanon remains the country hosting the largest number of refugees per capita, with nearly 950,000  Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, about 20,000 refugees of other origins - mostly Iraqi - and Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.  There are no formal camps for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and refugees are living in hundreds of communities and locations across the country.

The refugee response is led by the Government and UNHCR and UNDP, supported by the international community. As the designated lead agency in the refugee response, UNHCR has established a sector-based structure in Beirut and in the field. The structure brings together over 150 UN agencies, national and international NGO partners [over 150 actors, including UN agencies, national and international NGOs and Ministries] in identifying and agreeing on the strategic priorities to address the needs of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities. The Lebanon Chapter of the Response Plan falls under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), whereby UNHCR guides the refugee response and UNDP facilitates the resilience and stabilization component.

The UNHCR operational response in Lebanon is one of the largest for the organization. Media attention and the frequency of influential high-profile visitors is high. The Office has grown substantially in the past years and is currently operating with around 650 staff. Aside from the country office in the capital city of Beirut, UNHCR has field offices in Mount Lebanon, Qobayat, Tripoli, Tyre and Zahle.

A recent study shows that 65% of the adult Syrian refugee population in Lebanon have experienced one or more legal problems in the previous four years. This means that an estimated 640,000 persons are in need legal aid.   The legal problems or needs refugees experience vary, ranging from registering births and marriages, facing arbitrary detention, and domestic violence to legal issues arising from housing and employment, e.g. non-payment of wages or housing eviction threats. 

UNHCR is working through a number of implementing partners to deliver legal aid, in particular through legal awareness raising, legal assistance, advice and representation. Legal concerns may affect livelihood opportunities and have direct effects on the daily life of refugees and their access to basic rights. Their needs vary from assistance with registration of birth, marriage, death to legal residency, housing land and property issues (HLP), employment issues and SGBV and detention.  Access to civil documentation by refugees is also key in the perspective of their future return to countries of origin. In addition, there is a large stateless population who lack documents and have a considerable protection need as well. 

The Protection Associate is expected to provide quality and timely legal analysis of situations affecting persons of concern. He/she will contribute in responding to the protection needs of persons of concern and integrate protection safeguards in operational responses. He/she will have the following tasks and responsibilities, under the direct supervision of the protection officer:

• Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
• Provide legal analysis on issues affecting persons of concern; 
• Assist in liaising with competent authorities to enhance the proper practice of laws and regulations, in conformity with international legal obligations 
• Assist in statelessness related activities 
• Implement and monitor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for protection activities, in particular the detention SOPs.
• Ensure that individual protection cases including those on SGBV and child protection, identified through the help lines are followed up by field offices.
• Assist in interventions related to refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents.
• Contribute to and facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
• Contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
• Participate in initiatives to capacitate authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
• Stay abreast of developments related to laws and regulations that have an impact on the protection environment