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UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to protection

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Assignment:

The UNICEF Centre of Excellence in Child Protection and Migration combines global advocacy with technical assistance to country offices. Recent developments in several countries, including proposals or decisions to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR), underscore the need for current, accessible and comparable legal information. In other contexts, the MACR remains below international standards or is subject to exceptions, while the age of majority and related legal thresholds are not consistently documented. Previous global fact sheets are no longer regularly updated.

The consultancy will support the development of a global Legal Atlas covering all countries and territories for which authoritative legal information can be verified. The Atlas will document the statutory age of majority and MACR, including exceptions, differentiated thresholds and relevant implementation provisions, and assess alignment with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and General Comment No. 24. Its immediate advocacy objective is to promote a MACR of at least 14 years, without exceptions that permit children below that age to be held criminally responsible.

The Legal Atlas will be designed as an accessible, searchable and updateable knowledge product, drawing on the format and functionality of existing legal atlases on child marriage, street-connected children and civil registration and vital statistics. Its structure should allow additional justice-for-children variables to be incorporated in future phases, including access to free legal aid, diversion and non-custodial measures.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Child Protection Specialist, Justice for Children and Legal Reform, based at the UNICEF Centre of Excellence in Amman, the consultant will lead the research, validation, design and online development of the Legal Atlas. The consultant will work remotely and coordinate closely with UNICEF country offices and relevant technical partners.

• Develop an inception report, research protocol, legal taxonomy, data fields, source hierarchy and quality-assurance methodology.

• Identify, review and extract information from constitutions, criminal and juvenile justice legislation, civil codes and other authoritative legal sources for all countries and territories covered.

• Record citations, links, dates of enactment or amendment, legal exceptions and explanatory notes in a structured, editable dataset.

• Analyse each jurisdiction against the relevant international standards, clearly distinguishing verified law from interpretation and flagging information gaps.

• Prepare country profiles and validation packages; coordinate review by UNICEF country and COEs; maintain a comments and resolution log.

• Incorporate validated comments and finalize the global legal dataset and accompanying narrative content.

• Develop the information architecture, user journeys, wireframes and visual design for the Legal Atlas in line with UNICEF branding, accessibility and usability requirements.

• Configure and populate the online database, including search, filter, comparison, download and update functions, and provide administrator guidance.

• Conduct quality assurance and user testing, correct identified issues and prepare the final launch-ready package.

• Provide additional research, editing, coordination and knowledge-management support related to justice for children, as requested in writing by the contract manager.

How can you make a difference? 

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the Terms of Reference here:  ToR Consultant to Develop a Global Legal Atla TMS text.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have:

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Masters university degree in law, human rights, international development, public policy, social sciences or another field relevant to justice for children and child protection.
• Work Experience:
• Minimum six  (6) years of progressively responsible professional experience in justice for children, child protection, human rights, legal reform or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience conducting high-quality comparative legal, policy or programme research across multiple jurisdictions.
• Proven experience analysing or contributing to laws, policies, strategies, guidance or programmes related to justice for children.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Working proficiency in French or Spanish is highly desirable.
• Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:
• Demonstrated ability to verify primary legal sources, manage structured datasets and present complex legal information accurately and accessibly.
• Sound knowledge of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 24 and other relevant international human rights and juvenile justice standards.
• Excellent analytical, drafting, editing, communication and stakeholder-coordination skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deliverables and work effectively in a remote, multicultural environment across regions and time zones.
• Experience developing legal atlases, digital knowledge products, online databases or comparable public-facing platforms is highly desirable.
• Experience working with UNICEF, another United Nations entity or an international child rights organization is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate Care

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter 
• A separate financial proposal  Financial proposal Consultancy - TMS.docx

Remarks:  

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.