African Union Career Opportunities in Ethiopia

African Union Senior Legal Officer (Research and Codification) Career Opportunities in Ethiopia

Senior Legal Officer (Research and Codification)

Job Title

The African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL), established as an advisory organ on International
Law of the Union, is charged with promoting the progressive development of the international law in Africa and
its codification.

The AUCIL further aims to encourage the teaching, study, publication and dissemination of
literature on international law in particular the laws of the Union with a view to promoting acceptance of and
respect for the principles of international law, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, respect for the Union and
recourse to its Organs, when necessary.

The Secretariat of the AUCIL is located at the African Union
Commission, Office of the Legal Counsel, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

In seeking to achieve this objective, the African Union intends to strengthen its capacity to perform by, among
others, filling all vacant posts.

Organization

Post title: Senior Legal Officer (Research and Codification)

Grade: P3

Supervisor: Secretary to the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL)

Directorate: Secretariat to the AUCIL
Office of the Legal Counsel, African Union Commission

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Number of Positions: 1

Department
a. Service as a recognized expert in one or more areas of concentration, and independently handle a wide
range of multi-discipline, highly complex, and often sensitive and/or conflicting legal matters involving issues
Tasks
relating to international law, which include interpretation and application of instruments in that area of
progressive development of law and codification;

b. Organize and supervise research studies and the preparation of legal opinions, as well as performs
extensive legal research and analysis on highly complex or novel legal issues/questions and prepare legal
opinions, studies, briefs, reports, and correspondences;

c. Make various types of recommendations to senior officials of substantive units with respect to develop
policies and actions to be taken;

d. Provide authoritative legal advice on diverse range of highly complex or novel substantive and
procedural questions of international law;

e. Coordinate and direct the work of junior officers; organize and prioritize the workload and provide
general coordination and supervision of assignments as regards the legal work;

f. Supervise and prepare the publications entrusted to the Secretariat such as the AUCIL Journal, the
AUCIL Yearbook, and other publications;

g. Prepare official letters to Governments, international organizations and individuals and of inter-office
memoranda including completion of administrative and budgetary forms;

h. Serve diplomatic conferences, commissions, committees, task forces, expert groups and other bodies,
including preparation of background materials, summaries of issues and views of delegations, meeting reports,
etc;

i. Serve on various standing boards, committees, ad hoc working groups and task forces, as required;
promote the work of the AUCIL and represents the organization at meetings, conferences, seminars, etc;

j. Contribute to review and design of new legal instruments, policy, guidelines, systems, etc;

k. Conducts desk research and related input to fieldwork data collection undertaken by the Secretariat and
budgetary planning in line with the AU’s financial rules;

l. Support the planning, development, implementation and monitoring of research projects at all stages;

m. Performs other duties as assigned.

1. Qualifications and experience

• The minimum qualification for this post is an advanced university degree (Master’s degree or
equivalent) in international law from a recognized University.

• A Post-Doctoral Degree is highly desirable.

• A minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in international law, including legal analysis,
research and writing is required. Experience in the progressive development of international law and its
codification is required.

Experience in organizing lectures on topics of international law is required. Experience
in public international law at the national or international level is required.

Experience in publishing articles in the
field on international Law is required. Experience with an international organization is desirable. Experience in
production and post-production of multimedia content is desirable.

Requirements
2. Other relevant skills
• Excellent and demonstrated research skills ;

• Leadership abilities and management experience;

• Ability to work within a multicultural environment;

• Computer literacy;

• Analytical skills;

• Excellent drafting and reporting skills;

• Good communication and negotiating skills;

• Good planning and organizational skills.

3. Language requirements

The African Union working languages are Arabic, English, French and Portuguese. For this position, fluency in
English or French (both oral and written) is required.

Advanced knowledge (both oral and written) in the second
language is highly desirable. Knowledge of Arabic or Portuguese would be an added advantage.

4. Tenure of appointment

The appointment will be made on a regular fixed term contract for a period of three (3) years, of which the first
twelve (12) months will be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract will be for a period of
two (2) years renewable, subject to satisfactory performance.

5. Gender mainstreaming

The AU Commission is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

6. Least represented countries

Candidates from the following least represented countries at the African Union are encouraged to apply: Angola,
Eritrea, Central African Republic, Cape Verde, Comoros, Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Guinea (Rep),
Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Namibia, Sahrawi Arab Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles ,
Somalia and South Sudan.

7. Remuneration
Indicative basic salary US$ 35,300.00 per annum (P3 Step 1) plus other related entitlements e.g. post
adjustment (46% of basic salary), housing allowance (US$ 1 4,414.40 per annum), education allowance (75% of
tuition up to a maximum of US$7,800.00 per dependent child per annum), etc. for internationally recruited staff
of the Commission.

8. Application procedure

The applications must be made through the AUC E-recruitment Website http://www.aucareers.org, not later than
22 March 2017.

Applications are pre-screened by the system according to the published requirements of the job opening on the
basis of the information provided in the application.

In relation to the requirements of the job opening, applicants
must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their qualifications, including their education, work
experience, and language skills.

Each applicant must bear in mind that submission of incomplete or inaccurate
applications may render that applicant ineligible for consideration for the job opening.

Initial screening and
evaluation of applications will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted. Applications cannot be
amended following submission.

Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to a
reference-checking process to verify the information provided in the application.

Directorate of Administration and Human Resource Management

African Union Commission

P.O. Box 3243, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)

Fax: 00251-11-5525840/5510430

E-mail: au-recruits@africa-union.org

Regular (Long Duration)

Contract Type

Full-time

Employment Fraction

Headquaters

Branch