Associate RST/RSD Officer

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)E (most hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Non Family with Residential Location

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS IICA1

Target Start Date2025-07-01

Deadline for ApplicationsJuly 6, 2025

Terms of ReferenceAssociate RST/RSD Officer, IICA-1, Sudan

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships:

Sudan experiences a severe and prolonged crisis due to armed conflict, political instability, economic fragility, food insecurity, and natural disasters. The situation worsened significantly in April 2023, leading to massive displacement, with over 10 million internally displaced people and over 3.2 million fleeing the country and a further 800,000 refugees previously in Sudan returning to their countries of origin in adverse circumstances due to the conflict. Approximately 24.8 million people, half of Sudan’s population, require urgent humanitarian aid in 2025. The crisis has severely damaged systems, services, and infrastructure, with long-term impacts expected. The humanitarian needs, particularly in health, protection, education, and livelihoods, are immense and unmet.

Sudan still hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa (over 840,000 as of May 2025). Refugee populations in Sudan include South Sudanese (73%), Eritreans (16%), Ethiopians (8%), Yemenis, Syrians and Central African nationals. Prior to 2023, most refugees were residing in non-camp locations, with Eritreans and Ethiopians settled in camps in eastern states—such as Tunaydbah and Shagarab—as well as in urban areas under civil-residency provisions, while South Sudanese resided in camps in White Nile and urban areas especially Khartoum. Since the outbreak of widespread hostilities in April 2023, large-scale displacement has affected both refugees and Sudanese nationals and most refugees are now residing in camps, a reversal of the situation pre-conflict. There has been a rapid and significant deterioration in the protection context in Sudan particularly for refugees and asylum-seekers. The continued displaced of refugees and asylum-seekers often multiple times has increased their protection risks. In addition, the conflict has prompted the strict implementation of Sudan’s encampment policy and restrictions on provision on freedom of movement. Eritrean asylum-seekers arriving directly in Sudan undergo simplified individual RSD, while those previously recognized as refugees in Ethiopia qualify for accelerated procedures. Ethiopian asylum-seekers from the Tigray region who arrived after November 2020, are granted prima facie recognition, whereas non-Tigrayan asylum-seekers and earlier arrivals undergo individual RSD assessments. South Sudanese and Central African Republic nationals are granted prima facie status upon arrival.

Within this context, UNHCR Sudan seeks an Associate RST/RSD Officer, based in the Representation Office, whose main task is to build and maintain RST/RSD operational capacity within UNHCR and main governmental partner, Commission for Refugees (COR). COR and UNHCR developed RSD Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in 2022, but operationalization of the SOPs was disrupted by the eruption and escalation of the conflict since April 2023. The incumbent will focus on operationalizing the SOPs and strengthening the capacity of COR and UNHCR staff.

The Sudan Operation also received a resettlement quota of 200 individuals with a deadline for submission on 30 June 2025. Most of the cases were successfully submitted prior to the deadline. The incumbent will be responsible for following up on these cases and attending to any new quota allocations and emergency submissions.

The incumbent’s primary role is to support resettlement, complementary pathways, and RSD activities in Sudan through identification of needs, submission of cases, monitoring procedural compliance, integrity and quality of case submissions, and ensure progress against targets. S/he takes part in assessing cases for resettlement and conducting interviews as well as monitoring procedural compliance and quality of case submissions. The role may also involve managerial responsibilities in supervising staff and affiliate workforce. S/he contributes to comprehensive protection and solutions strategies and needs to make resettlement both strategic as well as responsive to the needs of people of concern to UNHCR.

The Associate RST/RSD Officer will report to the Assistant Representative for Protection or in her absence, the Senior Protection Officer. 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 (RST/RSD):

- Provide legal/procedural advice and technical support on RSD/RST issues to UNHCR and COR staff and other relevant partners.
- Support engagement with relevant national authorities and structures in identifying and expanding opportunities in view of developing or strengthening national asylum/RSD systems.
- Capacity building: Forster capacity building, including developing training plans, and providing ongoing coaching as well as training on RST and RSD SOPs, interviewing and assessment techniques; the inclusion criteria; principles/procedures related to exclusion; cancellation/revocation; international humanitarian law; human rights law; interviewing techniques and credibility assessment/establishing the facts; and legal drafting.
- Assist with the development of RST/RSD strategies and support senior management and sub/field offices to ensure full and effective integration into the protection and solution strategy of the country’s MYSP.
- Assist with the design, regular review and implementation of operation-specific SOPs for all aspects of RST/RSD operations in line with relevant standards/policies, including UNHCR's AGD policy, ensuring the prioritisation of persons with specific needs.
- Guide the identification, interview, assessment of resettlement and complementary pathways needs, and processing of cases identified for resettlement and complementary pathways following established procedures; provide counselling to individuals.
- Support monitoring of activities for resettlement and complementary pathways, as applicable, to ensure progress against targets, transparency and efficiency in case submissions and appropriate follow-up with resettlement countries and other key stakeholders.
- Review and provide timely feedback and guidance on resettlement submissions prepared in the country office/ by country offices to harmonize quality and consistency of resettlement delivery.
- Support the management of processes to ensure that forcibly displaced persons and partners receive up-to-date and accurate information on UNHCR/COR’s RSD, resettlement and complementary pathways policies and procedures.
- Support the implementation of UNHCR’s global resettlement and complementary pathways policies, procedures and guidelines in the AOR.
- Ensure Standard Operating Procedures for identification of cases for resettlement and resettlement case management are in place and in line with UNHCR Global Standards.
- Support and contribute to measures that enhance the prevention, detection and response to fraud committed by persons of concern generally and in resettlement and complementary pathways in particular.
- Support senior management in maintaining regular contact and close cooperation with resettlement countries and partners to ensure effective delivery of resettlement and complementary pathways; and adherence to adequate protection standards.
- Support government officials and partners undertaking missions related to resettlement and complementary pathways.
- Assist selection missions by resettlement countries to the region/country operations.
- Stay abreast and analyse the implication of political, legal, social and economic developments in the AOR and recommend policy / strategic approaches to further UNHCR objectives with respect to resettlement, complementary pathways, and RSD.
- Contribute to the development and enhancement of policy and guidelines for resettlement and complementary pathways practices.
- Systematically apply an Age, Gender and Diversity perspective in all aspects of the resettlement and complementary pathways process; comply with UNHCR policy and guidelines on HIV/AIDS.
- Promote and support the establishment of mechanisms for preventing fraud in resettlement and complementary pathways activities to maintain the integrity of the resettlement and complementary pathways process in the AOR.
- Assist in the production of up-to-date and accurate statistics, analytical reports on RSD, resettlement and complementary pathways, updates and briefing notes, including regarding the trends, the country/ region’s performance in meeting resettlement targets, challenges and responses.
- Contribute to comprehensive protection and solutions strategies in the country operation or region.
- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education & Professional Work Experience:

Years of Experience / Degree Level

For IICA-1, 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree.

Field(s) of Education:

Political Science; Social Sciences; International Law; Law; International Public Law; International Refugee Law; International Human Rights Law; Refugee and Forced Migration International Relations; or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses:

- RSD/RST Learning Programmes,
- Management Learning Programme.

Relevant Job Experience:

Essential:

3 years of experience, preferably at the international level, working directly with procedures and principles related to adjudicating individual asylum claims in RSD procedures and resettlement procedures. In-depth knowledge of International Refugee Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law and ability to apply relevant legal principles in the RST/RSD context, including exclusion decision-making. Thorough knowledge of the \"Procedural Standards for RSD under UNHCR's Mandate\" and other guidelines and standards governing UNHCR's mandate RSD activities. Experience in counselling asylum-seekers and individual case management. Experience and demonstrated skills in refugee law training. Demonstrated experience in casework or case management, preferably in a refugee or immigration context.

Desirable:

Experience as a decision-maker in UNHCR or Government SD procedures is highly desirable. Experience in providing legal representation to asylum seekers in UNHCR or Government SD procedures. Experience in supervising a team. Completion of the RST/RSD Learning Programmes and other UNHCR Learning Programmes relevant to RST/RSD. Training and coaching experience. Experience in working with vulnerable or traumatized individuals.

Sound understanding and ability to implement UNHCR’s policy and global strategic priorities, such as AGDM, IDP, Statelessness, and HIV/AIDS, in the area of responsibility at appropriate level. Diverse field experience. Experience working in a multi-cultural environment.

Functional Skills:

PR-Resettlement/Repatriation/Voluntary Repatriation
PR-Resettlement Anti-Fraud Policy and Procedures
PR-Experience in Operations facing mixed migratory movements
DM-Database Management
PR-Individual Case Management (People of Concern)
PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
PR-Interviewing and counselling refugees/asylum seekers
PR-Government Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures
PR-UNHCR RSD Principles and Procedures
PR-Adjudication of individual asylum claims in RSD
LE-International Refugee Law
PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
LE-International Criminal Law
LE-Draft legal opinions
CM-Cross-cultural communication

Language Requirements:

For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English language. Knowledge of Arabic is desirable

Competency Requirements

All jobs at UNHCR require six core competencies and may also require managerial competencies and/or cross-functional competencies. The six core competencies are listed below.

Core Competencies:

Accountability:
Communication
Organizational Awareness
Teamwork & Collaboration
Commitment to Continuous Learning
Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:
Empowering and Building Trust
Managing Performance
Judgement and Decision Making

Cross-Functional Competencies:
Analytical Thinking
Planning and Organizing
Political Awareness

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

,

,

Desired Languages

,

,

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Work Experience

Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

RemoteNo