Marshall Weinberg Legal Fellow, Asia

Title: Marshall Weinberg Legal Fellow, Asia

Department: Asia

Center Background: The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global human rights organization working to ensure that reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights worldwide. With offices in New York City, and Washington, D.C.; Nairobi, Kenya; Bogota, Colombia; and Geneva, Switzerland, the Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization changing law and policy throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United States. Our 270 diverse professionals are committed to advancing the Center’s human rights mission through game-changing litigation, legal policy, and advocacy work. This has powered the Center’s exceptional growth to an operating budget of over $60 million and won the respect of law firms in countries around the world. Our global pro bono network includes over 2,000 lawyers across 6 continents, 64 countries, and 130 law firms. Last year, law firms contributed over $30 million USD in pro bono legal services. The Center’s Strategic Plan sets a high mark for impact: By 2030, half of the world’s population will be living under stronger protections for reproductive rights than they were in 2020. The Center has a record of success to back up this ambitious goal. Since our founding in 1992, the Center has transformed how reproductive rights are understood and applied by courts, governments, and human rights bodies worldwide on issues including maternal health, abortion, assisted reproduction, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights. We have won groundbreaking cases before national courts, U.N. Committees, and regional human rights bodies. The Center has also led development of historic, proactive legislation advancing robust protections for reproductive rights. It has built the legal capacity of women’s rights advocates in more than 65 countries and counting. To learn more about the Center, please go to www.reproductiverights.org

The Role: The Center has received a generous gift from Marshall Weinberg to support our work to ensure that more women and girls worldwide have access to safe and legal abortion, quality maternal health care, a full range of reproductive health services, information, and reproductive autonomy.

The Marshall Weinberg Global Legal Fellowship Program will help prepare the next generation of social justice lawyers in reproductive health and rights with two-year fellowships within the Center’s Program Division. These emerging advocates will work directly with our legal experts and will take on work in areas of the greatest need, opportunity, and impact within our Asia programs.

We are currently recruiting a Legal Fellow to undertake law and policy-related research and support advocacy initiatives on a range of reproductive rights issues in Asia, with a focus on South and Southeast Asia, including abortion, assisted reproduction and surrogacy, adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal health, and SRHR in humanitarian settings, among others. Supporting the team’s overall legal strategies work, the Fellow will report to the Legal Adviser, Asia while working closely with other regional colleagues and partners.

This one-year full time fellowship will be based remotely in Nepal. Applicants must be legally permitted to work in the country where they are based.

Primary Responsibilities:

The Legal Fellow, Marshall Weinberg, Asia primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Monitor, research, and track developments in laws and policies on reproductive rights issues across Asia, with a particular focus on the countries of programmatic operations, including but not limited to India, Nepal, and the Philippines. This includes updating, refining, and analyzing information in appropriate legal mapping tracker;
• Monitor, research, and track key advocacy engagement opportunities on reproductive rights issues across Asia and globally, including by updating and analyzing information in appropriate tracking format;
• Conduct legal and policy research on international, regional, and national human rights law and standards regarding a range of reproductive rights issues based on the Asia program’s priorities;
• Support the Legal Adviser, the Asia Legal and Advocacy Unit, and the Asia Department to develop legal and advocacy positions, programs, and interventions on the thematic areas of reproductive rights issues as may be identified, including adolescents’ SRHR;
• Support the overall legal strategies work of the Asia Department;
• Contribute to the development of legal positions on a range of reproductive rights;
• Assist in developing, drafting, fact-checking, and finalizing fact sheets, reports, submissions, articles, presentations, and other legal advocacy documents positioning reproductive rights as fundamental human rights;
• Support the Department’s legal capacity-building initiatives, designed to increase the use of the law to promote reproductive rights by local partners within the region and across the globe;
• Support the planning, logistics, and implementation of online and offline legal strategies, events, workshops, and meetings by the Asia Department and its partners;
• As appropriate, support the Asia Department in maintaining partnerships with NGOs/CSOs and other stakeholders, including law and policymakers, judiciary, academia, and donors. Specifically, support the creation and maintenance of a partnership database for the Asia Department;
• Work closely with the Legal Adviser and the Regional Adviser to break down and disseminate reproductive rights updates for advocates and partners in the region, develop press releases, draft opinion articles on the legal strategies work of the Department;
• Assist with program administration of the Department’s legal and advocacy strategies work, including monthly programmatic updates, advocacy initiatives, monitoring and evaluation, tracking lobbying and press mentions;
• Other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in law, human rights, or a related field.
• 2 to 3 years of relevant professional experience in sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, human rights, peace and conflict studies, or related social justice field.
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills.
• Strong legal research and analytical skills, including the capacity to analyze complex legal issues and communicate them clearly and effectively.
• Knowledge of international human rights law, standards, and systems.
• Knowledge of national laws and policies on reproductive rights in Asia is an asset.
• Strong critical thinking skills and creative approach.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills, including self-motivation, handling multiple tasks simultaneously, working under pressure, and meeting tight deadlines.
• Capable of receiving and engaging with feedback.
• Strong commitment to the Center’s mission, purpose, and values.
• Ability to work in a multicultural, diverse, and performance-driven environment.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At the Center, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about this role but your past experience does not align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. ?You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Compensation: The annual salary for this role is NPR 3,000,000.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Center is committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in our work and staff. We strongly encourage people from all communities to apply. If you are excited about this role but unsure about whether your experience aligns with the job description, we encourage you to apply. You may be the right candidate for this or other roles. To learn more about the Center’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, please visit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Center for Reproductive Rights.