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on the Middle East and North Africa.
Description: This researcher will be responsible for ongoing research and advocacy efforts, and responding to human rights emergencies throughout the Middle East and North Africa region. This will include working with groups and entities with particular vulnerabilities to human rights abuses, as well as enhancing HRW’s capacity to respond to emergencies in the region by serving as a resource person on urgent and emerging issues in the field and related planning and policy developments. A significant part of the researcher’s role will be developing strategies for dealing with human rights issues related to sexuality, gender and sexual rights, and contributing to policy development in this area. The researcher will also identify needs and build up the capacity of communities facing abuses, as well as establishing relationships with mainstream human rights and social movements.
The researcher will carry out fact-finding missions to target countries; write and publicize reports findings; develop advocacy strategies; present human rights concerns to governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”), and the media; and write news releases, articles, op-eds, and position papers. S/he will help create and maintain partnerships with NGOs working on human rights, including sexual rights, and will follow media and other reports on human rights abuses. S/he may also be responsible for editing, speaking and representing HRW at conferences and other meetings, along with related tasks.
Qualifications: Candidates should be knowledgeable about international human rights and humanitarian law, Middle Eastern affairs and issues of sexuality or gender. An advanced (graduate) degree in international relations, women’s or gender studies, Middle East studies, journalism, law, or a related field in the social sciences is strongly preferred.
Experience in human rights work and in fields relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, especially research on countries in the region, is required. Candidates should be fluent in English and Arabic or Farsi, with excellent oral and writing skills in English and excellent reading and conversational skills in Arabic or Farsi.
The successful candidate should have a demonstrated commitment to international human rights and be able to investigate and report on abuses without prejudice or favor in contexts that are often highly charged politically and culturally. S/he must be comfortable working under public scrutiny, flexible and able to respond quickly to crises as they occur, often in insecure environments. S/he must be an agile and productive writer and dynamic speaker with accurate, analytically sophisticated and persuasive oral and written communications skills. The ideal candidate must be able to think strategically about the global and local media environments and how to use the press and electronic media to further advocacy goals, maintaining regular contact with key local, national and international contacts relevant to the researcher’s issues. S/he must be able to develop and implement realistic and effective local and international advocacy strategies and tactics in order to identify and seize advocacy opportunities and thus insert HRW’s position into public debate. Creativity, initiative, perseverance, and flexibility are required while maintaining HRW’s high methodological standards.
He or she must be able to travel domestically and overseas several times a year. The researcher will be based preferably in HRW's Cairo or Beirut office, although other locations may be considered, but in any case must be prepared to spend significant periods of time in HRW’s New York headquarters, particularly in the first year of employment for purposes of orientation, integration into the organization and training, and thereafter for regular consultation.
Salary and Benefits: HRW seeks exceptional applicants and offers competitive compensation and generous employer-paid benefits. HRW will pay reasonable relocation expenses and will assist employees in obtaining necessary work authorization, if required; citizens of all nationalities are encouraged to apply.
PLEASE APPLY IMMEDIATELY by emailing in a single submission: a letter of interest describing your experience, your resume, salary requirements, names or letters of reference and a brief writing sample (unedited by others) no later than September 1, 2008 to mena.sr@hrw.org. Please use “Researcher on the Middle East & North Africa” as the subject of your email. Only complete applications will be reviewed. It is preferred that all materials be submitted via email. If emailing is not possible, send materials (please do not split a submission between email and regular post) to:
Human Rights Watch
Attn: Search Committee (Researcher on the Middle East & North Africa)
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Fax: (212) 736-1300
the strongest possible workforce, actively seeks a diverse applicant pool.
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Human Rights Watch is an international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions.
