The objectives of the UNHCR Internship Scheme are to:

• Provide interns with an opportunity to gain practical work experience related to their academic programme or future work in a field related to UNHCR's mission
• Enable our Office to benefit from the work undertaken by interns

Qualifications

The UNHCR Office in Austria offers internships in its Legal Unit and its Public Information Unit. Moreover, the UNHCR Liaison Office to the OSCE and Vienna-based UN Agencies also offers internships. For each of them the following qualifications are considered beneficial:

Legal Unit:

• Undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate law students
• Practical experience in the field of international refugee law as well as the Austrian Asylum Law and counseling skills desirable
• Very good command of German and English (spoken and written)
• Knowledge of other languages (such as Russian, Arabic, Persian) would be an asset

Public Information Unit:

• Undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate students of journalism & media or field of the kind
• Excellent command of German
• Excellent knowledge of English (spoken and written)
• Experience in office work an asset, but not a prerequisite

UNHCR Liaison Office to the OSCE and Vienna-based UN Agencies:

• Undergraduate or graduate students of political science, economic and social development or international relations
• Excellent knowledge of English (spoken and written)

In order to benefit from an internship with UNHCR, applicants must be able to work fairly independently and are expected to be pro-active and flexible.



Terms of Reference

Legal Unit:

• Responding to requests by individual refugees and asylum-seekers by directing them to appropriate governmental or non-governmental institutions and contributing to UNHCR follow-up as needed
• Conducting legal and country of origin information research
• Engaging in the monitoring of the situation of asylum-seekers and refugees in Austria
• Drafting correspondence and assisting with secretarial tasks
• Others (depending on the necessity within the unit)

Public Information Unit:

• Helping design, enhance and implement Public Awareness activities in a dynamic team
• Initiating cooperation with institutions, VIPs, companies, the media etc.
• Coordinating the compilation of press clippings, maintenance of the webpage and other routine tasks in the field of communications like internet research or translations English-German or German-English
• Drafting of articles or other texts

UNHCR Liaison Office to the OSCE and Vienna-based UN Agencies:

• Summarising and analysing OSCE discussions
• Supporting information management flows
• Assisting networking efforts for UNHCR concerns with OSCE/UN delegations
• Drafting correspondence and assisting with secretarial tasks
• Others (depending on the necessity within the Office)

Application

Applications must include:

• Cover letter indicating the reason why the person wants to do an internship with UNHCR Austria, his/her expectations, available dates, how the person learnt about the internship and other information felt to be of relevance
• Updated curriculum vitae incl. photo
• Completed UNHCR "Internship Scheme Application Form"
• Photocopies of most recent and/or highest educational certificate
• For an internship in the Public Information Unit additionally three samples of public relation texts or media stories in German

Please do not send any other letters, supporting documents or any original certificates until specifically requested. Applications should be addressed, indicating the Legal or Public Information Unit or the Liaison Office to:

UNHCR Office in Austria
P.O. Box 550
A-1400 Vienna
Austria

E-mail: ausvi@unhcr.org
Fax: (+43-1) 263-4115

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

General Information about our Internship Programme

The minimum duration we accept is three months.

UNHCR accepts no responsibility or liability for costs arising from damages, travel, accident and/or illness incurred during an internship, so respective insurance coverage should be met individually.

Interns are therefore asked to submit in advance proof of coverage by a medical insurance plan valid for Vienna, Austria, as interns are not covered by the United Nations Medical Insurance Plan.

Interns maintain a 40-hour working week.

No provision is made for the remuneration of interns.

All costs connected with internships must be borne by the interns themselves or their sponsoring institutions or governments, including costs relating to travel, living and accommodation.

Obtaining visas for non-EU nationals is the responsibility of the intern.

At the end of their assignment interns will be issued a Certificate of Internship covering the period of internship with UNHCR and areas of work.

Subsequent Employment by UNHCR

There is no expectation of employment at the end of the internship. Interns are not eligible to apply for a post with UNHCR - including a consultancy - during the period of internship and for the six months immediately following the internship's expiration date. However, UNHCR interns may freely seek employment with other UN agencies.