Legal Adviser to Civil Rights Defenders in Stockholm

We are in an expansion phase, which has opened up many interesting job opportunities. Are you passionate about human rights and want to be part of a global movement of human rights defenders? Do you want to work in an international environment with colleagues all over the world? Then you might be the one we are looking for.

About the role
As a Legal Adviser (LA) you work in the Legal Department as part of a team of lawyers and administrators, under the supervision of the Legal Director. The LA works to improve compliance with international human rights standards and to hold duty bearers to account, in Sweden and other countries, in cooperation with human rights defenders (HRDs) working in the local or regional context. The work is conducted in line with the organisation’s vision and mission, its strategy, and yearly plans of action, as well as the core values and ways of working of the organisation.  

The LA is responsible for developing and implementing the organisation’s legal work in certain thematic areas and/or regions and cooperates closely with other staff in the Legal Department and in other departments to achieve set goals and targets. One of the thematic areas the organisation engages in is the rights of the Sámi people in Sweden and the LA will contribute to strengthening this work. The LA develops, manages, and implements projects and may be responsible for coordinating the work of project staff in the Legal Department and across the organisation and in other organisations that we partner with.  

Main areas for your responsibilities will be:

- Legal work based on International Human Rights Law as well as national legislation in Sweden and other countries.
- Advocacy work, including drafting of public reports and statements; organising of seminars and meetings with relevant stakeholders and; contributing to communications and media work, nationally and internationally.
- Managing the organisation’s work on indigenous rights and the situation of the Sámi People as well as other thematic areas to be decided.
- Coordination and collaboration with Sámi representatives and HRDs.
- Capacity support to HRDs and partner organisations, including legal advice, legal trainings and financial support. 
- Project development and management, including financial management and reporting.
- Staff coordination. 
- Strategy development, including legal and advocacy strategies.  
- Work to support the Legal Department and the Organisation outside of specific projects or thematic areas of responsibility.


About you
As a person, you are an analyst and a strategist who develops workable solutions to problems by extracting key information and evaluating the context using multiple perspectives. It is important for you to maintain and uphold high ethical standards and to take clear ethical stands.

You like to plan, organise, and prioritize your work in an efficient way to keep time frames and deliver results according to organisational goals and quality standards. You have the interest and ability to collaborate with and relate to other people in a responsive and smooth way, we are sure that you will thrive in this role.

Furthermore, you have shown proof of seeking out new challenges, assignments and responsibilities and wish to use these strengths to promote Civil Rights Defenders cause in our work and challenges ahead.

We assume that you share our values.

To be suitable for this role you have a Master of Laws, LL.M., or equivalent, with specialization in human rights law or related area and at least 2 years of relevant work experience within in the areas of human rights, equality and non-discrimination, indigenous and minority rights, constitutional law, (international) criminal law or international humanitarian law.  

We also highly value if you have work experience from a civil society organisation or an intergovernmental or governmental organisation or tribunal focusing on human rights, international humanitarian law or international criminal law.  Furthermore, it is an asset if you have conducted legal work and advocacy work related to human rights, including report writing, criminal or civil litigation, nationally or internationally and communications and media work.

We also believe that you have

- In-depth knowledge about  rights and rights violations of the Sámi People or other indigenous peoples.
- Working knowledge (B2) of English and Swedish in speech and stylistic writing abilities.
- Basic skills to use Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, Excel, PPT, Word) or other similar digital or online work environments Example.


It is a strong merit if you have

- Experience from working with Sámi or indigenous culture or livelihoods.
- Knowledge in Sámi languages.
- Masters degree in international human rights law, international humanitarian law or international criminal law.
- Experience of working with regional or international systems for the protection of human rights, such as the Council of Europe, the Inter-American or the UN system.
- Knowledge of non-discrimination law and work.
- Experience of working with migration law
- Experience of litigation or other legal action before courts or oversight mechanisms, nationally, regionally or internationally. 


About the employment
This is a full-time permanent employment starting in February 2023 or according to agreement. As an organisation, we strive for diversity and we see your background, experience and personality as a contribution to the organisation. You will be based in Stockholm at our headquarters.

We offer you a pleasant and modern workplace that values flexibility when it comes to working hours and the possibility to work remotely. We apply Collective Agreement with Fremia.

Please apply as soon as possible  as we recruit on an ongoing basis, but no later than 12 February 2023.

For more information about the position, please contact recruiting manager John Stauffer: john.stauffer@crd.org.

Local union representative: joanna.hellstrom@crd.org (mailto:lia.hen@crd.org) (Unionen).



About us
Civil Rights Defenders is a politically and religiously independent international human rights organisation. We defend people’s civil and political rights in some of the world’s most repressive regions. We partner with and support human rights defenders in more than 300 organisations in 50 countries on four continents. Together with our partners, we hold those in power accountable when people’s civil or political rights are viol...