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Job Summary

Job Title:
Senior Protection Officer
Employer:
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Location:
Yumbe
Country:
Uganda
Contract Type:
Full-time
Job Category:
Legal Jobs
Number of Positions:
1
Deadline:
Monday, 9 March 2026

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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a global organization founded in 1950 with the mission to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees, displaced persons, and stateless individuals, ensuring they receive protection, assistance, and a path to durable solutions. Widely regarded for its humanitarian leadership, UNHCR has earned international recognition for its tireless efforts in responding to crises, advocating for refugee rights, and promoting solutions for displacement through resettlement, repatriation, and local integration. Operating in over 130 countries, the organization fosters a diverse and inclusive work culture that prioritizes innovation, collaboration, and professional development, offering employees opportunities for impactful careers in a flexible work environment with both field-based and remote work arrangements. UNHCR has evolved over the years to adapt to the growing challenges of forced migration, integrating cutting-edge technologies and community-centered approaches into its operations. With a vast operational reach, the organization is a global leader in crisis management, addressing complex issues like conflict, climate change, and human rights violations. UNHCR's core values of integrity, professionalism, respect for diversity, and accountability guide its work, with a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility reflected in its advocacy for climate justice, gender equality, and the protection of vulnerable populations. For more information, visit www.unhcr.org.

Full-time

Deadline: 

9 Mar 2026

Senior Protection Officer Job at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Job Description

In the Bureaux, the Senior Protection Officer works under the direct supervision of the Bureau Deputy Director or Head of Bureau Protection Service or Senior Protection Coordinator. In the Field, the incumbent normally reports to the Representative, Deputy or Assistant Representative (Protection) or Head of Sub Office as appropriate. The incumbent has direct supervisory responsibility for protection staff whose work may include RSD, community-based protection, registration, resettlement, internal displacement, complementary pathways, and education, among other areas. In HQ, the incumbent may report to a Chief of Section or Deputy Director and may lead a Unit and/or supervise other protection staff.


The incumbent acts as a key advisor to senior management and leads the development of a comprehensive protection strategy under the area of responsibility (AoR). S/he represents the Organization to authorities, UN sister agencies, partners and other stakeholders on protection policy and doctrine.

The Senior Protection Officer plans, leads and coordinates quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern under the AoR. This includes ensuring that operational responses in all sectors are shaped in a protection optic, are consistent with and promote respect for relevant international law and UNHCR’s doctrine, mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. Another important element of the incumbent¿s functions is to ensure that forcibly displaced and stateless persons of all age, gender and diversity groups are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying and implementing appropriate solutions to their problems. To undertake this role effectively, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with other relevant teams within the operation or the Bureau (including programme; PI and external relations; IM) and with DIP, communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection and achieving solutions.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties, Roles and Responsibilities

  • Provide technical guidance and support to UNHCR and partners on all protection related issues.
  • Stay abreast of legal, political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
  • Manage a consultative process with government counterparts, partners and forcibly displaced and stateless persons to develop and implement a comprehensive protection and solutions strategy addressing the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, persons of diverse sexual orientation and/or gender identities (LGBTI persons), persons living with HIV/AIDS; gender equality and Gender Based Violence (GBV) priorities with regard to these persons.
  • In operations applying the Cluster Approach, ensure the response of the Protection Cluster is grounded in a strategy which covers all assessed and prioritized protection needs of the affected populations.
  • Ensure that the protection strategy is fully integrated into the Country Operations Plan, the UN Development and Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the Humanitarian Country Team’s common humanitarian response plan as well as with the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Three Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways.
  • Promote relevant International, Regional and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct and ensure that all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations fulfil their responsibilities in mainstreaming protection.
  • Promote the implementation of the AGD policy, including UNHCR’s updated commitments to women and girls, and design, deliver and monitor programmes on an AGD basis to address identified protection needs.
  • Develop, implement and monitor community-based protection strategies and ensure systematic application and integration of participatory and community-based approaches in protection and solutions planning, programming and strategies.
  • Support the establishment of feedback and response systems and the incorporation of feedback received from forcibly displaced and stateless persons into programme design and adaptation.
  • Guide the operation in the development and implementation of robust prevention, identification, and responses to fraud within protection processes and procedures, including registration, RSD, and resettlement, ensuring the integrity of interventions across all protection activities.
  • Oversee the management of individual protection cases including those on GBV and child protection.
  • Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to internal and external interlocutors; ensure legal assistance is accessible to forcibly displaced and stateless persons ; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documents to forcibly displaced and stateless persons (including women and others in need of civil documentation in particular birth certificates).
  • As designated Data Protection Focal Point, assist the data controller in carrying out his or her responsibilities regarding the Data Protection Policy (7.2 DPP).
  • Oversee eligibility and status determination in the Operation(s) under the AoR, ensuring compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
  • Promote and implement strategies and measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
  • Develop and implement an education plan as part of the protection strategy within the AoR as relevant.
  • Develop and implement a child protection plan as part of the protection strategy within the AoR, ensuring programmes use a child protection systems approach.
  • Monitor and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
  • Work to safeguard the rights of forcibly displaced and stateless persons in the context of mixed movements as relevant.
  • Coordinate the preparation of, implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
  • Ensure that durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement and complementary pathways are sought and provided to the largest possible number of forcibly displaced and stateless persons including undertaking, supporting, and/or overseeing resettlement and complementary pathways activities, including implementation of the GCR Three Year Strategy.
  • Coordinate the design, implementation and evaluation of protection-related programming with implementing and operational partners.
  • Develop and implement a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectoral and/or cluster partners.
  • Ensure that the Protection Sector or Cluster has an effective information management component that provides disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
  • Research, collect and disseminate relevant protection information and good practices to enhance protection delivery.
  • Develop the protection capacity of national and local authorities, partners and civil society to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis all forcibly displaced and stateless persons through protection training, mainstreaming and related activities.
  • Coordinate capacity-development initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
  • Advise and capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and civil society to strengthen legislation and status determination procedures and mechanisms.
  • Lead risk assessments and discussions with team(s) to proactively manage risks and seize opportunities impacting objectives. Ensure that risk management principles are integrated in decision-making both at strategic and operational levels. Allocate resources for planned treatments with resource requirements in Strategic Plans. Ensure that risks are managed to acceptable levels and escalate, as needed. If a Risk Owner, designate the Risk Focal Point and certify that the annual risk review is completed and ensure that the risk register is updated during the year, as needed.
  • Perform other related duties as required.

For positions in Bureaux

  • Support the Regional Bureau and Country Operations to reflect the protection and solution angle in support of forcibly displaced and stateless persons with regional processes.
  • Support Country Operations in the development of strategies to build and further develop national asylum/RSD systems with a view to ensuring their fairness, efficiency, adaptability and integrity, favourable protection environment and solutions.
  • Assist UNHCR management at country level to comply with policies and commitment on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse measures.
  • Support Country Operations and ensure they meet their complementary pathways objectives and resettlement quotas.
  • In close collaboration with DIP, (a) contribute to the development of background and general normative, policy, and legal positions, in compliance with UNHCR’s global protection policies and standards; (b) contribute to the development of strategies at the regional and country level on the usage of law and policy approaches, including legislative and judicial engagement and UN human rights mechanisms and/or regional ones and other protection frameworks, and integrated human rights standards in protection strategies and advocacy; and (c) coordinate and review UNHCR¿s country reports to the UN human rights mechanisms.
  • Engage in relevant international and regional fora and forge regional partnerships to advocate for key protection and mandate issues, and engage in cross-cutting protection-related matters, including mixed movement, internal displacement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses, as well as Statelessness in cooperation with DIP and where relevant RSD.

Qualifications, Education and Competencies

See all details of the qualifications, competencies and education for this role under the "How to Apply" section below.

All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should apply online at the link below 

Click Here 

Deadline: 9th March 2026

Click here to apply

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Senior Protection Officer Job at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

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