National Consultant on Transitional Justice to prepare a report on Lustration policies and processes in Albania
Alert
Vacancy
Transitional justice refers to the legal and non-legal mechanisms that states undertake after gross violations of individual and collective rights from the previous regime. These mechanisms include but are not limited to inter alia criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations, lustration, apologies, memorials, institutional reform etc.
Following the transition from Communism to democracy in the 1990s, Albania has made continuous attempts to engage in dealing with its past with the aim of addressing human rights violations of the Communist regime and strengthening the country’s democratic path.
Several transitional justice mechanism have been put in place and, among them, repeated attempts have been made to lustrate public offices, state management positions, or other jobs with strong public influence from alleged members and collaborators of the former totalitarian regime.
Those attempts – made at the inception of and during the transition - have spanned more than twenty years and scholars, politicians and international observers agree to consider them as an overall failure for reasons ranging from lack of political will to manipulation for political gains, insufficient or imprecise legal framework and lack of trust from the general public.
And yet, those attempts reappear in time of elections or in the context of electoral reform processes, be that through legislative initiatives aiming at fostering the implementation of the existing provisions or at introducing new ones that call for an assessment of their efficiency and effectiveness in light of the current legislative and institutional framework and previous experiences in the field.
Against this background, the OSCE Presence in Albania (OSCE PiA)’s Rule of Law and Human Rights Department is looking for an expert with a consolidated experience in transitional justice matters to implement the activities described under the following sections.
Tasks and responsibilities:
Under the guidance of the Project Manager and the Head of Department, the Expert shall draft a report on lustration policies and processes in Albania in time of elections and in the context of electoral reforms. The research shall cover the timeline from the first multi-party elections held after the fall of communism, March 1991 up to date following a comparative approach.
Issues addressed in the report shall at minimum include: - Adequacy of legal and institutional framework - Respect of individual rights and liberties - Substantive and procedural guarantees - Accuracy of evidence and transparency of procedures - Risks of and measures against manipulation for political gains - Impact on electoral reform and elections - Impact on civic trust in public institutions whose members are elected
Specifically, the expert will:
1) Participate in a conference call (within a week from the contracting for this assignment), organized by the Presence’s point of contact to discuss the structure, content and format of the report;
2) Review and analyze relevant laws, bylaws, regulations, and any other material document and data pertinent to the object of the consultancy;
3) Develop a questionnaire on the subject of consultancy to be distributed among target groups of respondents identified in agreement with the OSCE Project Staff;
4) Conduct structured and semi-structured interviews (individual and focus groups, virtual interviews) on transitional justice and lustration policies and processes in Albania, including in time of elections and in the context of electoral reforms with the most relevant stakeholders in the field (representatives of state institutions, independent institutions, political parties, civil society organizations, formerly persecuted persons, etc.) as agreed with the OSCE Project Staff of the Department;
5) Report monthly to the Presence on challenges of operations and achieved progress based on the template provided by the Presence; 6) Draft a comprehensive, substantiated report (minimum 30 A4 pages, Times New Roman format, 12 font, 1.5 line spacing, Albanian language) containing a baseline study of the findings of the analyses, surveys and interviews described in the foregoing as well as recommendations on short term and long term strategies and actions to address identified problems pertaining to legal framework, institutional framework and procedural mechanisms relating to transitional justice and lustration policies and processes in Albania, with special focus on time of elections and electoral reforms. The report should be structured at minimum as follows:
Executive Summary
Introduction and Background
Methodology of consultancy (research, survey and analysis)
Analysis of Legal Framework
Analysis of the Institutional Framework
Analysis of the Political Framework
Analysis of Procedural Mechanisms and Formal and Informal Practices in place
Analysis of findings from administered questionnaire and interviews
Comparative analysis of legal, institutional and methodological approaches on lustrations by Countries which experienced Communist regime (at least two)
Summary of main findings (resulting from the above stated analysis) related to the overall and specific objectives of the assignment
Key Recommendations for short-term and long-term strategies and actions for decision makers
Identification of important areas for future engagement with respect to the OSCE PiA in the field.
7) Continuously liaise with and if necessary seek advice from the OSCE Project Staff throughout the discharge of the consultancy activities.
Expected Output/Deliverable:
1) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 3 above, draft Questionnaire for Target Groups ;
2) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 3 above, submit the Final Questionnaire for target groups;
3) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 4 above, provide a Summary of Interviews with Stakeholders ;
4) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 5 above, draft and submit Monthly Reports on the Progress of Consultancy
5) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 6 above, provide Draft Report ;
6) Under Task/Responsibilities No. 6 above, submit Final Report
Necessary Qualifications
• University degree in law, political science, or social sciences. An advanced degree with specialisation in Transitional Justice or Human Rights law is preferred;
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in design and implementation of projects or research projects involving qualitative and quantitative analysis, survey analysis, public policy analysis and institutional assessment;
• In-depth knowledge of transitional justice theories and practices;
• Previous experience with research and data analysing regarding Albania’s democratisation process is desirable;
• Knowledge of electoral processes and electoral reforms;
• Experience and knowledge of political sociology, government and development issues
• Excellent communication and drafting skills in Albanian;
• Working knowledge of English;
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Computer literate with practical experience in Microsoft applications
All applications are due by 29 June 2020. If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://jobs.osce.org/.
Should you have any question, kindly contact recruitment-al@osce.org
The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment at a lower grade or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.
The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the organization.
Due to the current unpredictable situation, the start date may probably be revised according to the daily and rapidly evolving situation