OHCHR Minorities Fellowship Programme in Switzerland

OHCHR
Minorities Fellowship Programme

The Minorities
Fellowship Programme (MFP) was launched by the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2005.

Through the MFP, the
OHCHR aims to give persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and
linguistic minorities an opportunity to gain knowledge on the UN system and
mechanisms dealing with international human rights in general and minority
rights in particular. The MFP is intended to assist

organizations and
communities in protecting and promoting the rights of minorities the fellows
belong to.

The MFP is held
annually. The English language programme has been running since 2005 and the
Arabic language programme started in 2007 until 2014. The Arabic language
component began as a two-week pilot and gradually expanded to five weeks in
2011. The duration of the programmes varied until 2011, when both programmes
were decided to last 5 weeks and coincide with the session of the Forum on
Minority Issues. In 2014 the Minorities Fellowship Programme acquired a Russian
language component, to be fully synchronized with the other two linguistic
components.

The Fellows are
based at the OHCHR Geneva, Switzerland. The MFP is interactive and consists of
briefings on several topics (e.g. the UN system, OHCHR work, human rights
mechanisms and instruments), fellows also undertake individual and group
assignments.

At the end of the
MFP, the fellows should have a general knowledge of the United Nations system,
international human rights instruments and mechanisms in general and those
relevant to minorities in particular and be capable of further training their
communities/organizations. The Programme furthermore serves as an opportunity
for human rights activists working towards the protection and promotion of
minority rights to expand their partners’ base by building a strategic dialogue
with fellow activists from across the globe, the United Nations, relevant
Geneva-based NGOs, amongst other partners.

Minorities
Fellowship Programme 2016 – Call for applications 

This year, the
English and Russian language components of the Minorities Fellowship Programme
will run from 7
to 25 November 2016, in Geneva, Switzerland
, and fellows will
be able to participate in the 9th Session of the Forum on Minority
Issues. 

Both the English and
the Russian language component of the Minority Fellowship Programme gives
selected fellows the opportunity to learn more about the promotion and
protection of minority rights, OHCHR, and the UN system as well give them an
opportunity to attend the 8th session of the Forum on Minority Issues.

The deadline
for application for the English and Russian component is Sunday 22 May 2016.

Fellows are entitled
to the following: a return ticket (economy class) from the country of residence
to Geneva; basic health insurance for the duration of the Programme; a stipend
to cover modest accommodation and other living expenses for the duration of the
Programme.

Who can
apply?

1. The candidate
must belong to a national, ethnic, linguistic or religious minority group
(persons who do not belong to a minority group will not be taken into
consideration, even if they have close links with minority communities and/or
organizations)

NOTE:
If your community identifies as indigenous, please do not apply to this
programme but to our Indigenous Fellowship Programme. Please note that the
Indigenous Fellowship is a separate programme and has different application
forms and deadlines.

2. Formal education
should not be a limitation to participation in the Minorities Fellowship
Programme, if relevant experience can be demonstrated.

3. Candidates should
have ability, willingness and possibility to train other persons belonging to
minorities upon return to their respective communities/organizations and should
agree to do so.

4. The candidates
must have a good working knowledge of the language in which the programme is
imparted (English).

5. The candidate
should be proposed and his/her candidacy supported by his/her organization
and/or community. It is desirable that the sponsoring organization has a firm
constituency or membership, is representative, undertakes work on minority
issues and is composed of persons belonging to minorities.

6. The overall goal
of the Minorities Fellowship Programme is to offer persons belonging to
minorities the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills in the field of
international human rights in order to assist their organizations and communities
in protecting and promoting human and minority rights. Therefore, it is
important that the candidate proposed and nominated by a minority organization
or community be someone who will return to his or her NGO to work in this
field.

Selection
process

The selection of
fellows reflects a gender and regional balance. The general human rights
situation in the respective regions/countries is also taken into consideration
as is the situation of the minority community to which the applicant belongs
to.

The selection of
successful candidates is undertaken by an advisory group composed of OHCHR
staff.

In view of the large
number of applications, we regret to inform that only successful candidates
will be contacted.

How to
apply?

Fellowship
application forms can be downloaded from the following link: English | Russian

Both parts I and II
of the application form must be filled in and signed. In addition, application
forms need to be accompanied by an official recommendation letter from the
nominating organization or community. Fellowship applications will only be
taken into consideration if they are fully completed.

Interested
candidates should submit their application indicating “Application to the 2016
Minorities Fellowship Programme
” as subject either by e-mail*
to minorityfellowships@ohchr.org, by fax to the number +41 22 917 90 08 or by
post to:

Application to the
2016 Minorities Fellowship Programme
Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

* E-mailed
applications must be signed, scanned and submitted as a single PDF file.

Any questions
pertaining to the Minorities Fellowship Programme can be directed to the
addresses mentioned above.

Please note that
applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

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