Job Title: National Consultant
Job Description
National Consultant
Back ground
In 2006, the Constitutional Court in Uganda Law Society V. AG (Constitutional Petition No. 18/2005) declared the trial of civilians in military court martial unconstitutional, a decision that was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court on appeal in AG V. Uganda Law Society (Constitutional Appeal SCCA No. 1/2006) in 2009. Recently in September 2011, UPDF Defence and Army Spokesperson announced that a directive had been issued by the UPDF administration to cease the trial of civilians in court martial. On this basis, the Uganda Human Rights Commission whose mandate is to protect and promote human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and other binding human rights instruments, in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Uganda office whose mandate includes providing technical assistance to the competent authorities in relation to measures to promote and protect human rights in the country, will undertake a joint project to monitor the operation and process of transfer of civilian cases from court martial system to ordinary civilian courts to assess the effective implementation of the UPDF directive, the operation and functionality of the court martial system to determine the extent of compliance to established standards of fair trial and due process with a view to identify capacity gaps and recommend appropriate procedural and institutional reforms.
Objectives/Purpose
Uganda Human Rights Commission in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Uganda (OHCHR) seek to engage a Ugandan National consultant to implement specific activities under this project and in particular the following:
1. Conduct research on the operations of the court martial system in Uganda in order to assess the military courts’ compliance with the national, regional and international human rights instruments and principles of fair trial guarantees and the due process of the law.
2. To monitor the status of the proposed transition process and procedure of transfer of civilian cases to the ordinary court system and ascertain whether it conforms to established principles of fair trial and due process.
3. The consultant in close collaboration with UHRC/OHCHR will also assess the Court martial trials where military personnel are tried and prosecuted for human rights violations in response to the right to effective remedy with a view to inform necessary institutional reforms and strategies.
How to Apply
Please visit http://jobs.undp.org/ and submit application. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. UHRC/OHCHR is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified women are highly encouraged to apply. Those who applied before are not eligible and should not re-apply.
