Legal adviser
Must be a trained human rights lawyer with good knowledge of and experience
in international law and standards, including international humanitarian law and
international criminal law.
Analyst
Must have proven experience in analytical activities, with a special focus on
complex, large-scale investigations; strong reasoning skills, including ability to
understand complex scenarios, handle conflicting information and hypotheses,
identify information gaps, and develop sound logical inferences.
Witness/source protection adviser
Protecting persons cooperating with the commission/mission – especially victims,
witnesses and other sources of information – is the responsibility of all members
and staff, in keeping with the policies and methodologies guiding the work of the
commission/mission. In some cases, the commission/mission may need to appoint a
witness/source protection adviser, especially if a large number of victims, witnesses
and other sources will be interviewed in a volatile situation with the absence of
security and a high risk of reprisals in the location where the inquiry takes place.
In other cases, responsibility for ensuring the implementation of witness/source
protection policies across the commission’s/mission’s work may be entrusted to a
member of staff, such as the investigation team leader.
Gender adviser
While ensuring that gender issues are integrated in the commission’s/mission’s work
is the responsibility of all members and staff, having a specialized gender adviser as
part of the secretariat, with experience in gathering and analysing data on gender
issues, has proved useful to provide advice and support to both members and staff
during the conduct of the commission’s/mission’s work.
Media officer
In most cases the commission/mission will need the full-time support of a media
officer to establish links with the media in an optimal manner and to advise on
specific media communications (e.g., press releases). When full-time support is not
required, responsibilities for media work may be combined with editing or drafting
support, as media specialists would generally be able to assist in these areas as
well. In addition, especially for high-profile commissions/missions, it may also be
necessary to have staff or consultants monitor the media in the local languages.
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COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY AND FACT-FINDING MISSIONS ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW
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