Consultancy announcement: Global Guide on Protection of Children against Torture

** GlobalGuide on Protection of Children against Torture**

Created in 1985, and with over 200-member organisations in itsSOS-Torture Network, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is today thelargest international coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) fightingagainst torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other formsof cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment. OMCT’s InternationalSecretariat is based in Geneva and it has offices in Brussels and Tunis.

The OMCT, as the principal civil societycoalition against torture, has developed its child rights specialized expertisethrough a designated Child Protection Against Torture Programme over the pastthree decades. Our focus on theprotection of children from torture seeks to link child rights and anti-tortureactors. We work through our SOS-Torture Network and support the members tointegrate a child rights perspective in their work, strengthen their capacitiesand reach, including through enabling regular civil society access to monitorjuvenile detention facilities. We engage authorities on legal and policyreforms to prevent torture, and pursue accountability for child victims oftorture and we have in particular developed a specificexpertise in monitoring places of detention where children are detained.

OBJECTIVE OF THECONSULTANCY

The OMCT seeks to contract a Consultant to conduct research and collect information on the protection of children against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, and to draft a Global Guide on Protection of Children Against Torture for publication.

The Global Guide will consist of a tool collecting best civil society practices to prevent torture and abuse against children in detention. It will draw amongst others on OMCT’s longstanding experience, particularly in, Benin, Brazil, India, the Philippines, Togo, and Uruguay, but also worldwide. It will aim at increasing knowledge and understanding of civil society organisations, but also governments and juvenile justice professionals about the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment against children deprived of liberty, and at presenting models and initiatives that prevent and protect children against such practices. The Guide will also analyse how children are affected by torture and will provide recommendations to states, UN human rights bodies to protect children against torture and ill-treatment.

What we are looking for:

The OMCT seeks to contract a Consultant to conduct in depth research andcollect information on the protection of children against torture and othercruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment with the aim to produce aGlobal Guide on Protection of Children Against Torture for publication. Theobjective of the Global Guide is to mobilise the OMCT SOS -Torture Network andother civil society organisations as well as juvenile justice professionals, UNhuman rights bodies and States’ authorities to get involved in the protectionof children who are deprived of liberty from torture. The Guide will seek to:

1. Collectbest practices to prevent torture against children in detention, based onOMCT’s longstanding experience, particularly in, Benin, Brazil, India, thePhilippines, Togo, and Uruguay, but also based on secondary data through threeconsultations organised in the regions;
   
2. Providecontext on how children are affected and impacted by torture;
   
3. Introducestories of children assisted through OMCT’s Child Rights Protection Programme;
4. Providerecommendations for OMCT’s SOS-Torture network members, partners and othercivil society organisations, but also for professionals of juvenile justice,State authorities and UN human rights bodies on how to improve theimplementation of the prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatmentagainst children deprived of liberty.

METHODOLOGY

The consultant will, as part of the research methodology, organise and conductwith support of the OMCT team three online regional consultations with expertsand SOS-Torture Network members in order to collect relevant information, aswell as one global expert meeting in order to share and exchange on goodpractices against torture and ill-treatment of children and the key policyrecommendations that will be identified in the Global Guide.

BACKGROUND OF THECONSULTANCY

The UN Global Study on ChildrenDeprived of Liberty, launched in 2019, estimates that there are currently 1.5million children deprived of liberty, who are in serious risk of being torturedor otherwise ill-treated. Torture, and other inhuman and degrading treatment against childrendeprived of liberty remains largely unacknowledged and hidden, in many casesaccepted, or tolerated.

Over the past three decades, we haveworked locally and globally to develop a multi-tiered strategy to ensure children theirright to protection against torture and abuse. While the ultimate goal of the OMCT is toeradicate torture and notably promote alternative measures to deprivation ofliberty, we have observed throughout our work that there are practices andsafeguards that could prevent torture and other ill-treatment of children whiledeprived of liberty.

The Global Guide aims at presentingmodels of initiatives that can help reduce cases of torture of children duringdeprivation of liberty developed against the backdrop of an analyses of how children are affected by torture and adiscussion of the legal challenges related to their protection.

RESPONSABILITIES OFTHE CONSULTANT

• Conduct research and collectinformation, in particular best practices to end torture and otherill-treatment of children in detention, including through the organisation ofonline regional consultations;
  
• Organise and lead threeregional online consultations (in Africa, Asia and Latin America) with expertsand members of the SOS-Torture Network and partners of the Child ProtectionAgainst Torture Programme (starting December 2020 TBC). This includes the preparationof working documents for participants, setting the agenda, the organisation ofthe online consultations, and the collection of information from theparticipants on best practices to end torture and ill-treatment of children indetention;
  
• Organise an expertmeeting (date TBC) with representatives of the regional onlineconsultation groups and international experts for the finalization of goodpractices and recommendations;Finalise the research andtext of the Global Guide for publication.

RESPONSIBILITIES OFTHE OMCT

• Participate andprovide orientation, guidance and discussion on the objectives, structure andcontent of the Guide;
  
• Provide intensive,on-going, back-and-forth revisions and improvements;
• Provision of anyavailable raw materials from the OMCT for the Consultant to comply withher/his/their responsibilities;
  
• Assuring thetranslation of the report into English/French, the lay out and printing of thereport;
  
• Providing timelypayments upon receipt of appropriate and satisfactory deliverables.

KEY DELIVERABLES

• A working document/conceptnote reflecting the principal issues and best practices in ending torture andill-treatment of children, in order to facilitate the discussions during the onlineconsultations and collect relevant information;
  
• Leading in the design,organisation and moderation of three online regional consultations with selectedCSO experts, and of the final expert consultation on recommendations;
  
• Propose a specificmethodology and research plan jointly with the OMCT Secretariat;Finalised text for theGlobal Guide on the protection of children against torture and ill-treatment.

DURATION AND BUDGET OFTHE CONSULTANCY

The Consultancy’s start date is 1st December2020 in order to deliver the report on the research by 1st May 2020 at thelatest.

The maximum available budget forthis contract is US Dollars 27.000. The most competitive consultancy proposalswill be those with the highest quality proposal that are budgeted within.

LOCATIONOF WORK AND SUPERVISION

The consultancy can be home-based with possibility to spend time forspecific intervals at the International Secretariat of the OMCT, located inGeneva, Switzerland. It includes the mandatory attendance of the three onlineregional consultations and of the final expert consultation, and any othermeeting that may be required to accomplish the consultants’ responsibilities. TheConsultant will work under the supervision of and in close collaboration with theOMCT Human Rights Adviser of the Child Protection against Torture Programme, andin close collaboration with OMCT SOS-Torture Network members.

TOBE CONSIDERED ELIGIBLE, CANDIATES MUST POSSSES THE FOLLOWING:

• Masters’ Degree orequivalent in law, international relations, or related field (required);
  
• Recognised competenceand experience in the field of human rights, in particular in the field of tortureor other ill-treatment, detention or juvenile justice related issues (required);
  
• Experience in workingin a multidisciplinary environment with a diverse group of stakeholders fromdifferent backgrounds;
• Good understanding of dynamicsaround issues of detention, children’s rights and juvenile justice
  
• Experience inorganising international meetings and coordinating group work;
  
• Good drafting skills,and previous experience compiling /writing manuals/reports for a recognized national, regional, or internationalNGO;
• Excellent fluency Englishand either Spanish or French, with knowledge of other languages as an asset;
  
• Excellent drafting,communication and presentation skills.

APPLICATIONDEADLINE:

Applications for thisconsultancy should be sent by 10 November 2020. Interestedapplicants must submit a CV, an Expression of Interest detailing the proposedmethodology, time frame, and fee (maximum 3 pages), and the full names andcontact details of two relevant references, to applications@omct.org.

Applications can besubmitted in either French or English. Pleaseuse “Global Guide Children” as thesubject of your email.

Please appreciate that due to the volume of applications, onlyshort-listed candidates will be contacted. We cannot answer phone enquiries.Thank you for your understanding.