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Vacancies and Internships

Vacancies

UNCITRAL secretariat vacancies are managed by the United Nations Office for Human Resources Management (UN OHRM). For more information on how to work with the United Nations please visit the UN Careers - Department/Office: Office of Legal Affairs portal.

Internships

The International Trade Law Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (ITLD), which serves as the substantive secretariat of UNCITRAL, offers an internship programme for a selected number of applicants whose major is commercial law, international trade law or private international law.

The Division includes a Legislative Branch and a Technical Assistance and Coordination Section. Those are tasked, respectively, with the development of harmonized legislative texts, and the provision of technical assistance with respect to the adoption and use of UNCITRAL legal texts and coordination among organizations working in the field of international trade law.

Internship objectives:

In determining the area and substance of the intern's work, account will be taken of the projects currently being undertaken in the Division, the qualifications of the intern and the purpose of the internship as expressed by the sponsoring institution or the intern. Interns will normally be requested to undertake tasks, under the supervision of a legal officer, in connection with the ongoing projects of UNCITRAL working groups, or with the activities of promotion of UNCITRAL texts and assistance to legal reform.

Intern assignments could include:

Legislative Branch:

  • Assisting with the research and preparation of comparative legal studies.
  • Assisting with the preparation and drafting of legal texts (e.g. draft conventions and model laws), including conducting related background studies.
  • Undertaking ad hoc legal and administrative assignments as requested.

Technical Assistance and Coordination Section:

  • Contributing to the identification of legislative reform needs and assistance requirements in selected countries and/or sectors.
  • Assisting with the collection and analysis of case law on UNCITRAL texts.
  • Assisting with the development and maintenance of the UNCITRAL website.
  • Assisting with the coordination functions of the Division.
Qualifications required:
  • Meeting general eligibility requirements enumerated in section 3 of the attached Administrative instruction on the United Nations internship programme.
  • Fluency (spoken and written) in at least one of the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat (English and French); knowledge of other official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish) is an asset.
  • Computer skills, including familiarity with applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet research.
  • Any advanced knowledge of work relating to web-site administration and familiarity with HTML will be considered an asset.
Conditions:

The United Nations is unable to provide any financial assistance or remuneration to interns, and service as an intern entails no financial implications for the United Nations.

Admission to the UNCITRAL internship programme is highly competitive. To be considered for an internship at the UNCITRAL secretariat, interested candidates must apply to the specific internship job opening through the UN Careers portal at careers.un.org. All questions related to the application procedure should be addressed through the designated channels of that portal. The UNCITRAL secretariat does not administer the application procedure.

Additional Resources