The UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein is located in Bern and works closely with authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other relevant actors in Switzerland and Liechtenstein for the protection of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people. It also works to find durable solutions for refugees. To provide general counselling to forcibly displaced persons approaching the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, the Office maintains a Senior Protection Assistant position, which is shared between two individual contractors, each working at 50%, based at the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.
The Office is now seeking 1 individual contractor (at part-time at 50%) for the period September to December 2025, with possibility of extension.
Under the supervision of the Protection Associate and in close cooperation with the Protection Team, the Senior Protection Assistant will primarily be responsible to provide information and counselling for individuals approaching the UNHCR Headquarters for advice, including in person. They will ensure a regular presence at the Headquarters (HQ) and provide these services in close cooperation with HQ security guaranteeing that HQ can maintain an open-door policy. The Senior Protection Assistant will also support HQ services in ensuring the well-being of refugees and other people for whom we work attending HQ organized meetings and provide information to them. For these purposes, the Senior Protection Assistant will establish and maintain close cooperation with Geneva based services.
The Senior Protection Assistant will also maintain the Help Pages for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and support selected IC cases requiring UNHCR’s assistance.
Requirements for the position:
– Bachelor degree and 1 year of professional experience;
– experience in managing relations with external partners;
– experience with individual counselling and case work;
– previous experience with UNHCR;
– experience in applying international refugee law, human rights law and Swiss asylum law to individual cases.
Required language skills: English, German AND French at B2 level or higher
Desired language skills: Swiss-German, Italian, Spanish
Deadline for Applications: July 24, 2025
Since this is a local position, only candidates who have the right to work in Switzerland are eligible to apply.
