JOB DESCRIPTION

E (most hardship)

Non Family with Residential Location

Non Family with Residential LocationDanger Pay

Santo Domingo, Dominican Rep

PR3

Professional

Reason

Regular > Regular Assignment

2025-07-23

August 8, 2025

Protection Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
In the Bureaux, the Protection Officer works under the direct supervision of the Senior Protection Coordinator or Senior Protection Officer. In the Field, the incumbent normally reports to the Representative, Deputy or Assistant Representative (Protection), Head of Sub Office or Senior Protection Officer as appropriate. The incumbent may have direct supervisory responsibility for protection staff whose work may include RSD, community-based protection, registration, resettlement, complementary pathways, internal displacement and education, among other areas. In HQ, the incumbent may report to a Senior Protection Officer, Chief of Section or Deputy Director and may supervise other protection staff.

The incumbent acts as an advisor to senior management in, when not responsible for, designing a comprehensive protection strategy under the area of responsibility (AoR). S/he represents the Organization to authorities, UN sister agencies, partners and other stakeholders on protection policy and doctrine.

The Protection Officer coordinates quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern under the AoR. S/he ensures that forcibly displaced and stateless persons of all age, gender and diversity groups are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying and implementing appropriate solutions to their problems. To undertake this role effectively, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with other relevant teams within the operation or the Bureau (including programme; PI and external relations; IM) and with DIP, communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection and achieving solutions.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
– Provide technical guidance and support to UNHCR and partners on all protection related issues.
– Stay abreast of and report as relevant on legal political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
– Engage relevant national authorities and structures in identifying and expanding opportunities in view of developing or strengthening national asylum/RSD systems.
– Facilitate a consultative process with government counterparts, partners and forcibly displaced and stateless persons to develop and implement a comprehensive protection and solutions strategy addressing the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, persons of diverse sexual orientation and/or gender identities (LGBTI persons), persons living with HIV/AIDS; gender equality and Gender Based Violence (GBV) priorities with regard to these persons.
– In operations applying the Cluster Approach, seek to ensure the response of the Protection Cluster is grounded in a strategy which covers all assessed and prioritized protection needs of the affected populations.
– Support senior management to ensure the protection strategy is fully integrated into the Country Operations Plan, the UN Development and Assistance Framework (UNDAF), the Humanitarian Country Team’s common humanitarian response plan where applicable, as well as with the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Three Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.
– Promote relevant International, Regional and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct and ensure that all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations fulfil their responsibilities in mainstreaming protection.
– Promote the implementation of the AGD policy, including UNHCR’s updated commitments to women and girls, and, design, deliver I and monitor programmes on an AGD basis to address identified protection needs.
– Develop, implement and monitor community-based protection strategies and ensure systematic application and integration of participatory and community-based approaches in protection and solutions planning, programming and strategies.
– Support the establishment of feedback and response systems and the incorporation of feedback received from forcibly displaced and stateless persons into programme design and adaptation.
– Support the operation to develop and implement robust prevention, identification, and responses to fraud within protection processes and procedures, including registration, RSD, resettlement and complementary pathways, ensuring the integrity of interventions across all protection activities.
– Assist UNHCR management at country level to comply with polices and commitment on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse measures.
– Oversee and manage individual protection cases including those on GBV and child protection.
– Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to internal and external interlocutors; ensure legal assistance is accessible to forcibly displaced and stateless persons; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documents to forcibly displaced and stateless persons (including women and others in need of civil documentation, in particular birth certificates).
– As designated Data Protection Focal Point, assist the data controller in carrying out his or her responsibilities regarding the Data Protection Policy (7.2 DPP).
– Oversee and undertake eligibility and status determination within the AoR ensuring compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
– Promote and implement effective strategies and measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness within the AoR.
– Contribute to the development and implementation of an education plan as part of protection strategy within the AoR as relevant.
– Contribute to the development and implementation of a child protection plan as part of the protection strategy within the AoR ensuring programmes use a child protection systems approach.
– Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
– Work to safeguard the rights of forcibly displaced and stateless persons in the context of mixed movements as relevant.
– Coordinate the preparation of, implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
– Ensure that durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement and complementary pathways are sought and provided to the largest possible number of forcibly displaced and stateless persons, including undertaking and/or overseeing resettlement and complementary pathways activities.
– Contribute to the coordination of the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related programming with implementing and operational partners.
– Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
– Ensure that the Protection Sector or Cluster has an effective information management component which: provides disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems; researches, collects and disseminates relevant protection information and good practices to enhance protection delivery.
– Build the protection capacity of national and local government, partners and civil society to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis all forcibly displaced and stateless persons through protection training, mainstreaming and related activities.
– Coordinate capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
– Advise and capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and civil society to strengthen legislation and status determination procedures and mechanisms.

– Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
– Perform other related duties as required.

For positions in Bureaux

– Support the Regional Bureau and Country Operations to reflect the protection and solution angle in support of forcibly displaced and stateless persons within regional processes.
– Support Country Operations in the development of strategies to build and further develop national asylum/RSD systems with a view to ensuring their fairness, efficiency, adaptability and integrity, favourable protection environment and solutions.
– Assist UNHCR management at regional and country level to comply with polices and commitment on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse measures.
– Support Country Operations and ensure they meet their complementary pathways objectives and resettlement quotas.
– In close collaboration with DIP, (a) contribute to the development of background and general normative, policy, and legal positions, in compliance with UNHCR’s global protection policies and standards; (b) contribute to the development of strategies at the regional and country level on the usage of law and policy approaches, including legislative and judicial engagement and UN human rights mechanisms – and/or regional ones – and other protection frameworks, and integrated human rights standards in protection strategies and advocacy; and (c) support coordination and review of UNHCR’s country reports to the UN human rights mechanisms.
– Engage in relevant international and regional fora and contribute to forging regional partnerships to advocate for key protection and mandate issues, and engage in cross-cutting protection-related matters, including mixed movement, internal displacement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses, as well as Statelessness, in cooperation with DIP and where relevant RSD.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P3/NOC – 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Law; International Law; International Refugee Law;
International Human Rights Law; International Humanitarian Law;
Refugee and Forced Migration Studies; Political Sciences
or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Minimum 4 years of relevant professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law, including experience in working directly with Field Offices. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles. Excellent legal research, analytical skills and drafting.

Desirable
Diverse field experience. Good IT skills including database management skills.

Functional Skills
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Comprehensive Solutions Framework
LE-Judicial Engagement
PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
PR-Accountability to Affected People – Principles and Framework
PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

MCO Panama oversees 22 operations in Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and most Caribbean islands in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean region. With UNHCR”s presence in only a few locations in its AoR, MCO Panama covers countries with diverse contexts.
Reporting to the Head of National Office, the Protection Officer will be directly responsible for ensuring protection needs in the country and coordinating with the protection and field teams in HNO Dominican Republic and MCO Panama to ensure proper protection response when and where required.
The desired candidate will have:
– Operational experience in dealing with emergencies in challenging security environments.
– Prior experience of working with inter-agency coordination mechanisms and the ability to gauge where and how to provide technical protection centred advice to the protection cluster and GBV AOR, the AAP working group, as well as the Migrant Protection Working Group- all of which are led by other UN agencies. The desired candidate will be able to advocate strongly for protection mainstreaming in a competitive inter-agency setting.
– Prior experience with engaging in the development of communicating with communities and UNHCR and IASC standards relating to Accountability to Affected People (AAP).
– Given the operation”s focus on documentation, experience in implementing projects on documentation, promotion of birth registration, and community outreach.
– Strong UNHCR mandate and protection knowledge
– Strong interpersonal skills.
– Strong drafting skills.
– Ability to work well as part of a small team with openness to new ideas and flexibility to take new responsibilities as and when the priorities evolve.
Language requirements: Due to operational needs within Haiti, in border areas, and within the MCO Panama, proficiency in French, Spanish, and English is required for this post.

French

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Spanish

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Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit this link:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Nature of Position:

Haiti has a population of almost 10 million and has been facing a growing multi-dimensional crisis. There is internal displacement in all of Haiti’s departments, with a concentration in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Gang violence had forced some 1.3 million people to flee their homes.

The situation in Haiti has led to waves of people leaving the country in the past decade, including through dangerous maritime journeys, as indicated by increased interceptions at sea. Deportations from the Dominican Republic are the most prevalent, and deportation by air and sea from other neighbouring countries in the Caribbean and the USA (with projected increases in 2025) continue.

The Haiti office has two international staff assigned to Haiti for the first time in 6 years. UNHCR aims to position UNHCR’s protection expertise in the inter-agency coordination fora related to protection for the IDP crisis in Port-au-Prince and for deportees from the Dominican Republic. UNHCR developed a documentation response with a local partner and the main government counterparts and has adapted the methodology to documentation for IDPs and deportees. With WFP, UNHCR has developed a collective feedback and complaints mechanism for humanitarian actors and is committed to growing the number of participants in 2025 and beyond.

The office in Port-au-Prince is overseen by MCO USA and is supported by MCO USA staff for admin, HR, program, and project control functions. As of 1 September 2025, MCO Panama will oversee these functions as the Haiti office will come under MCO Panama’s coverage area.

The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Head of National Office. The incumbent will need to liaise closely with protection staff in the Dominican Republic, in particular national staff working at the main border crossing points between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and migration detention centres, under the coordination of the head of protection based in the capital, Santo Domingo.

Living and Working Conditions:

Haiti is affected by safety and security problems, and many governments advise avoiding certain areas of the capital of Port-au-Prince altogether, such as the Bel Air, Carrefour, Cite Soleil, and the Martissant neighbourhoods. The security Level in Port-au-Prince is classified as level 4, and Programme Criticality 1 is in place (UNHCR has 2 PC1 slots). The security situation in Haiti remains alarming, characterized by a resurgence of armed clashes and violent crimes. Between January 1 and 7, 2025, several significant incidents were reported in Port-au-Prince. Despite the Multinational Security Support mission (MSS), the situation remains unstable in the capital with sporadic clashes and increased Haitian National Police patrols.

Due to the instability of the political system in Haiti, there are frequent protests, some of which run the risk of turning violent and are therefore best avoided. Port-au-Prince is a bustling and crowded city with high levels of poverty and unemployment throughout. While much of the infrastructure is somewhat lacking, and much of it is in the development process, working conditions are subject to UNDSS security rules.

Traffic accidents are the most common safety hazard to UN personnel in Haiti. The poor state of roads combined with poorly maintained vehicles and a reckless driving attitude leads to many traffic accidents. Crowds can form quickly at the scene of a traffic accident and always insist that the UN staff involved in the accident bring the victim immediately to the hospital. It is therefore important to contact the UNDSS Security Operation Center immediately, if you were involved in a traffic accident. Due to its location, Haiti is also highly vulnerable to natural hazards such as tropical storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes. During the hurricane season, from June 1st to November 30th, Haiti is exposed to heavy tropical storms, causing floods and landslides. Hurricanes and tropical storms routinely cause extensive material damage and loss of human life. Haiti is also located in a well-known zone for producing earthquakes. Even moderate earthquakes could cause severe damage and loss of life due to the poor quality of construction and limited government response capacity.

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Bachelor of Arts: International Humanitarian Law, Bachelor of Arts: International Human Rights Law, Bachelor of Arts: International Law, Bachelor of Arts: International Refugee Law, Bachelor of Arts: Law, Bachelor of Arts: Political Science, Bachelor of Arts: Refugee and Forced Migration Studies

Certifications

Competencies

Accountability, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Managing performance, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Planning & organizing, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

Add. 2 to the Bi-Annual 2025 Compendium – Part B

Additional Information

This position doesn”t require a functional clearance