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Position title | SBP Counter Trafficking in Crisis Specialist Deployment |
Position grade | P3 equivalent |
Duty Station | Caracas, Venezuela |
Reports directly to (Full Name of Supervisor and Position) | Reports directly to Chief of Mission, IOM Caracas. The specialist will be hosted by IOM and will report to IOM for administrative reporting. The specialist will also report to the Senior Coordinator of the Protection Cluster for functional reporting and day to day work. The specialist will be fully dedicated to inter-agency counter-trafficking coordination in support of the Protection Cluster. The specialist will report indirectly to the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Anti-Trafficking focal points who will provide strategic direction and oversight of the deployment in the various GPC operations. |
Duration | 6 months (30% remote) |
II. Background | |
Established in 1951, the international Organization for Migration (IOM) is leading inter-governmental organization providing services to governments and migrants in the field of migration. With 173 member states and offices in more than 100 countries, IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. IOM works in partnership with governments, the United Nations, international and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and development partners on all aspects of counter-trafficking responses – prevention, protection, and prosecution. Since the mid-1990s, IOM and its partners have provided protection and assistance to close to 100,000 men, women and children, who were trafficked for sexual and labour exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or for organ removal. Agriculture, fishing, domestic work and hospitality, commercial sexual exploitation, pornography, begging, construction and manufacturing are some of the sectors in which victims were exploited. IOM encourages the entire international community to engage in the fight against trafficking. It does so by participating in, and le, a number of regional and international multilateral processes, including the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Anti-Trafficking in Humanitarian Action. The Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Anti-Trafficking in Humanitarian Action has been co-led by Heartland Alliance International (HAI), IOM and UNHCR since its inception in 2017 and co-led by UNHCR and IOM exclusively since October 2020. The aim of the TT is to ensure that the risk of trafficking is mitigated and addressed from the earliest stages of humanitarian responses and that Protection Clusters take the lead on coordinating the response to trafficking to ensure crisis affected persons who become victims of trafficking are able to receive protection and assistance. In November 2020, the Task Team published an Introductory Guide to Anti-Trafficking Action in Internal Displacement Contexts which will support Protection Clusters in implementing anti-trafficking responses. The Global Protection Cluster (GPC) is a network of NGOs, international organizations and United Nations (UN) agencies engaged in protection work in humanitarian crises including armed conflict, climate change related and natural disaster. Mandated by the IASC, the GPC is led by the UNHCR, with four specialized Areas of Responsibility (AoRs): Child Protection led by UNICEF; Gender-Based Violence led by UNFPA; Housing, Land and Property led by NRC; and Mine Action led by UNMAS. The GPC is governed by a multi-stakeholder Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) and serviced by a multi-partner Operations Cell supported by an Information and Analysis Working Group, a Donor and Member States Liaison Platform, and thematic Task Teams. In addition, the GPC collaborates with the broader IASC system, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), various human rights treaty bodies and key development and peace actors, as well as international financial institutions and the private sector. The GPC covers 32 operations including 25 field clusters/sectors and 7 working groups (15 in Africa, 4 in Asia, 1 in Europe, 5 in MENA, and 7 in the Americas), and supports them in their responsibility to coordinate an effective protection response. This year, in the face of COVID-19, the GPC and national protection clusters have worked to advocate for the rights of around 200 million people and provided specialized protection services and assistance to over 100 million people in its field operations. The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, coupled with a political stalemate and devastating pandemic, have resulted in the deterioration of health care systems, lack of accessibility to basic non-food items and hygienic supplies as well as extreme food insecurity. The constant and extreme fluctuations in the economy have resulted in severe economic deterioration, widespread instability, a consistent increase in vulnerability and poverty among a large portion of the population, massive internal displacement and the biggest migratory exodus in the Americas known history, also affecting indigenous populations of Bolívar, Amazonas and Delta Amacuro states. This migrant and refugee crisis constitutes the World´s second largest displacement crisis. An estimated 96.2% of the population lives in poverty, based on household income, and 79.3% of those living in poverty are categorized as experiencing extreme poverty, which means their income is insufficient to cover the food necessities. According to Venezuela’s Humanitarian Response Plan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2020, more than 7 million people, in Venezuela, need some form of humanitarian assistance. . The establishment of the humanitarian coordination architecture in 2019 facilitated the expansion of the humanitarian response. The Humanitarian Country Team includes eight active clusters and three sub-clusters. The Protection Cluster (PC), lead by UNHCR is a broad-based, participatory forum, comprising on an equal basis of United Nations, human rights and development agencies and actors, as well as local and international non-governmental organizations. The Protection Cluster englobes over hundred-member organizations, making it one of the largest in the cluster system of Venezuela. In addition to the national level, the Protection Cluster has sub-national structures with participation in the CCTs of Zulia, Táchira and Bolivar. UNHCR Heads of Field Office in Maracaibo, San Cristobal and Ciudad Guyana double-hat as Cluster Coordinators at sub-national level. The Protection Cluster also incorporates two Areas of Responsibility specifically dedicated to child protection and gender-based violence that are coordinated by UNICEF and UNFPA respectively. Also, these two AoRs have a sub-national structure in Zulia, Táchira and Bolivar. In the context of the humanitarian coordination architecture, the role and mandate of the Protection Cluster in Venezuela encompasses the communities in which there is a presence of internally displaced persons and people at risk of displacement, prioritizing places where greater protection risks are observed. The key protection concerns as identified by cluster members are the increasing negative coping mechanisms, the fact that violence, conflict and political unrest are growing. Gender-based violence is increasing exponentially as well as xenophobia, racism, and stigmatization, and services are not reaching everyone equally. The main protection risks reported by members of the Protection Cluster are violence and armed confrontations, restrictions on mobility, homicides, murders, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, physical attacks, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, forced recruitment, family separation, trafficking in persons, confinement, harassment, intimidation, coercion and other human rights violations by the public forces and / or armed groups. These protection risks have motivated internal displacement and have affected displaced persons and their host communities. The broader humanitarian response to human trafficking can be improved through a better knowledge of the route and the risks to which migrants and refugees are exposed through information windows and the strengthening of information and anonymous reporting lines. There is a need to generate alliances with the media for communication about human trafficking and establish campaigns directed at the community level and a Registry and Assistance System for victims of trafficking at the regional level. The successful candidate will undertake all necessary tasks to support the Protection Cluster in Caracas, Venezuela to enhance the ability across the humanitarian and protection community to strengthen capacity of the protection cluster to study, prevent and combat human trafficking and protect and assist trafficking victims in Venezuela. She/he will work under the direct supervision of the IOM Chief of Mission, in close collaboration with the Protection Cluster Coordinator. She/he will also liaise biweekly with the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Anti-Trafficking focal point in order to track challenges and developing practices. |
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III. Responsibilities and Accountabilities | |
Required tasks In close coordination with the Protection Cluster Coordinator, IM officer, AoR Coordinators and Co-coordinator, country-level Protection Cluster members, hosting IOM mission, and other relevant humanitarian, development and peace actors; The successful candidate will be responsible to:
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IV. Required Qualifications and Experience | |
Education |
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Experience |
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V. Languages | |
Required |
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Fluency in written and spoken English and Spanish is required. |
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VI. Competencies | |
The incumbent is expected to demonstrate the following values and competencies: Values:
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Notes | |
The appointment is subject to funding confirmation. Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances. |