Director, LGBT Rights in Berlin bei Human Rights Watch

FULL-TIME JOB VACANCY
DIRECTOR
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program
Multiple Office Locations Considered
Application Deadline: November 12, 2023

The Organization

Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international human rights research and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions. We're comprised of over 600 staff in more than 50 countries.

Our mission is as urgent as it has ever been, and it faces complex new challenges. We must contend with the failures of governments to meet their obligations on water, land, education, and food. We must respond to conflict and crisis on an extraordinary scale, and we must confront the persistence of repression around the world. Climate change, the resurgence of authoritarian populism, rapidly advancing technologies, and the effects of deep inequality all compound these threats to rights. Innovation, efficiency, and diversity are critical to our success in meeting these challenges, and to delivering sustained impact.

The Opportunity

Human Rights Watch is seeking a human rights professional to lead its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights Program, one of HRW's eight thematic research and advocacy programs, made up of 9 staff.

The LGBT Rights Program defends and promotes the rights of LGBT people globally. Focal areas include violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, criminalization of same-sex conduct, restrictions on freedoms of expression and association, abuses in medical settings, and socio-economic rights including access to education, healthcare, and employment.

The successful candidate will be a thoughtful, collaborative, and strategic leader with deep knowledge and experience working on a diverse range of human rights issues related to LGBT rights. The Director will be a persuasive advocate in the field, and have an impressive track record of driving change, a deep commitment to coalition building and equitable partnerships, and a strategic vision for HRW's contribution to the global LGBT rights movement.

The Director will be an experienced manager and demonstrate the ability and commitment to foster the safety and resilience of staff, to promote diversity and inclusion, to support sustainability of the organization, to be an effective communicator, to provide appropriate and timely feedback on staff performance, to build consensus with staff around key challenges and new research and advocacy approaches, and to ensure the highest research standards in a culture of learning, trust, teamwork, and collaboration

The Director will represent the organization in national, regional, and international media on LGBT human rights issues; will advocate with high-level officials from governments, companies, the United Nations, and other regional and international bodies; will foster and strengthen partnerships with other human rights and civil society organizations, particularly local partners; and will lead our LGBT-related collaborations in the human rights movement.

The position will be based in any of HRW's global offices. The Director will report to a Deputy Program Director in the Program Office and will lead a team of researchers / advocates based in various locations. We aim to be as flexible and supportive as possible in both the recruitment for and onboarding of this position.

Responsibilities

1. Develop strategies, set programmatic priorities, and plan and execute research and advocacy to best defend and advance LGBT rights as human rights globally;

2. Ensure high research standards, including thorough vetting of research and media products, developing innovative research methods, and ensuring that the division's work meets a high ethical standard;

3. Collaborate with HRW staff in other program areas, including by reviewing products produced across the organization;

4. Provide final editing of reports and other written interventions and take part in research and writing;

5. Oversee the collection of detailed, contextualized information on human rights violations affecting LGBT people around the world, ensure the publication of accurate, comprehensive, insightful, strategic, and timely reports on those policies and practices, and ensure the use of those reports to generate effective and appropriate pressure to curb abuses;

6. Collaborate with HRW's security teams and others to ensure the safety and resilience of staff, information security, and security of interlocutors and partners;

7. Work closely with the Development and Outreach Department to fu