Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- monitoring, investigating and documenting human rights abuses in Egypt and Libya based on fact-finding field investigations as well as information gathered from other sources
maintaining working relationships with local and regional human rights activists, journalists, diplomats and others - devising and implementing innovative research strategies when in-country fact finding is not possible
- developing local, regional and international advocacy strategies to generate pressure for improvements in Egyptian and Libyan human rights practices. Advocacy targets include media and officials in Egypt and Libya, in the MENA region, Europe, the United States, and elsewhere, and with the United Nations and other international institutions
- producing, in a concise, accurate and timely manner, a range of written documents including detailed reports, shorter briefing memos, press releases, op-eds and letters to officials
- responding promptly to queries from the press, the public and colleagues in the human rights community; and
- other responsibilities as may be assigned
The successful applicant should be prepared to travel extensively for research and advocacy purposes and to work closely with Egyptian and Libyan human rights activists to ensure that HRW’s work complements and enhances their own.
Qualifications: Candidates should be knowledgeable about international human rights and humanitarian law and Middle East affairs, preferably with an advanced degree in law, international relations, journalism, Middle East studies or a related field in the social sciences. Experience in human rights work, especially research on countries in the region, is required. Candidates should be fluent in English and Arabic, with excellent oral and writing skills in English and reading and conversational skills in Arabic.
The successful candidate should have a demonstrated commitment to international human rights and be able to investigate and report on abuses without prejudice or favor in contexts that are often highly charged politically. He or she must be comfortable working under public scrutiny, flexible and able to respond quickly to crises as they occur, often in insecure environments. He or she must be an agile and productive writer and dynamic speaker with accurate, analytically sophisticated and persuasive oral and written communications skills. The ideal candidate must be able to think strategically about the global and local media environments and how to use the press and electronic media to further advocacy goals, maintaining regular contact with key local, national and international contacts relevant to the researcher’s issues. He or she must be able to develop and implement realistic and effective local and international advocacy strategies and tactics in order to identify and seize advocacy opportunities and thus insert HRW’s position into public debate. Creativity, initiative, perseverance, and flexibility are required while maintaining HRW’s high methodological standards.
Salary and Benefits: HRW seeks exceptional candidates and offers competitive compensation and generous employer-paid benefits. HRW will pay reasonable relocation expenses and will assist employees in obtaining necessary work authorization, if required; citizens of all nationalities are encouraged to apply.
PLEASE APPLY IMMEDIATELY by emailing in a single submission: a letter of interest describing your experience, your resume, names or letters of reference and a brief writing sample (unedited by others) to ashrafa@hrw.org. Please use “Researcher on Egypt/Libya Application” as the subject of your email. Only complete applications will be reviewed. It is preferred that all materials be submitted via email. If emailing is not possible, send materials (please do not split a submission between email and regular post) to:
Human Rights Watch
Attn: Search Committee (Egypt/Libya Researcher)
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Fax: (212) 736-1300
Human Rights Watch is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices and, in order to build the strongest possible workforce, actively seeks a diverse applicant pool.
Human Rights Watch is an international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions.
The MENA division of Human Rights Watch monitors human rights developments from Morocco to Iran.