Head, Anti-terrorism Issues (S)

Tags: Human Rights Law English OSCE
  • Added Date: Thursday, 19 June 2025
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Background:

This position is open for secondment only and participating States are kindly reminded that all costs in relation to an assignment at the Secretariat must be borne by their authorities.

Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. Seconded staff members in the OSCE Secretariat and Institutions are not entitled to a Board and Lodging Allowance payable by the Organization.

The OSCE has a comprehensive approach to security that encompasses politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects. It therefore addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, combating human trafficking, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. All 57 participating States enjoy equal status, and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

The OSCE Secretariat in Vienna assists the Chairpersonship in its activities, and provides operational and administrative support to the field operations, and, as appropriate, to other institutions.

OSCE Ministerial Council Decision MC.DEC/9/11 of 7 December 2011 established the Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) as part of the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, Austria. TNTD plays a key role as the focal point of OSCE-wide programmatic activities aiming at countering transnational threats and ensuring the co-ordination and coherence of action across all three OSCE dimensions among all executive structures, while respecting their mandates. TNTD comprises the Co-ordination Cell, the Action against Terrorism Unit, the Border Security and Management Unit and the Strategic Police Matters Unit.

The Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU), operating under the Transnational Threats Department (TNTD) within the OSCE Secretariat, serves as a pivotal element in the organization's counter-terrorism efforts. Led by the Head of the Unit who directly reports to the TNTD Co-ordinator, the ATU stands as the central node for information, coordination, and implementation of counter-terrorism activities. This unit embodies the OSCE's commitment to combating terrorism, as mandated by decisions from the Permanent and Ministerial Council meetings, especially in enforcing the โ€œOSCE Consolidated Framework for the Fight against Terrorismโ€ as per PC Decision No. 1063.

Tasks and Responsibilities:


Under the overall supervision of the Co-ordinator of Activities to Address Transnational Threat (Co/TNT), the successful candidate will be tasked with the following duties:

Providing support to the Chair-in-Office, the Secretary General and participating States on all antiterrorism-related matters; A strong human rights protection and fundamental freedoms-oriented programming; Submitting the ATU Unified Budget cycle and related proposals (UB activities, work plan, monitoring reports, PBPR, PO inputs) to TNT/Co; Giving guidance on the drafting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of OSCE counter-terrorism programmes or projects; identifying possible issues to be addressed and proposing corrective action; liaising with relevant parties and stakeholders, including national authorities and external experts; Following closely developments in a series of thematic areas pertaining to counter-terrorism; capturing best practices and lessons learned and facilitating their dissemination within the OSCE area and beyond; Participating actively in counter-terrorism activities initiated by other OSCE institutions and executive structures, international and regional organizations, as well as other stakeholders; Maintaining close relations with all donors, participating States and OSCE Partners for Co-operation, and designing resource mobilization strategies, while enhancing fundraising capabilities for ATU projects and initiatives; Assisting in co-ordinating the OSCE activities with all the relevant international organizations, in particular with the relevant United Nations bodies and structures, in the global fight against terrorism, including co-ordinating sub-and inter-regional initiatives and strengthening co-operation and information exchanges with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society, academics, researchers, parliamentarians and others; Contributing to the preparation and following up on the implementation of TNT-related decisions of the participating States; Preparing regular reports on OSCE anti-terrorism activities; Managing and supervising a team of professional staff members and assistants in line with the OSCE Code of Conduct; Performing other related duties as assigned.

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Secretariat, please see: https://www.osce.org/secretariat


Necessary Qualifications:

Second-level university degree in social or political science, law, public administration or related field; a first-level university degree in combination with at least two years of additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the second-level university degree; A minimum of ten years (twelve years with a relevant first-level university degree) of diverse and progressively responsible professional experience, especially in the area of human rights protection, prevention and counter-terrorism; Previous international work experience and/or experience with NGOs; At least five years of experience in line management, directing staff in the planning, organizing, scheduling, monitoring, and evaluating programme activities; Demonstrated experience in fundraising and donor relations; Working knowledge and history of co-operation of relevant United Nations bodies, such as UNOCT, UNODC, and UNCTED would be an asset; Demonstrated history and ability of co-ordination and co-operation with counter-terrorism regional and international organizations, such as Hedayah, the Global Community Engagement & Resilience Fund (GCERF), the Strong Cities Network, and the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ), would be an asset; Professional fluency in English with excellent communication (both oral and written) skills; knowledge of other OSCE working languages would be an asset; Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities; Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity; Digital literacy and proficient use of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint), internet.

๐Ÿ“š ๐——๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ! ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿค ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ก๐—˜๐—ช ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐˜๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ก ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฏ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—จ๐—ก๐—›๐—–๐—ฅ, ๐—ช๐—™๐—ฃ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—œ๐—–๐—˜๐—™, ๐—จ๐—ก๐——๐—ฆ๐—ฆ, ๐—จ๐—ก๐—™๐—ฃ๐—”, ๐—œ๐—ข๐—  ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€! ๐ŸŒ

โš ๏ธ ๐‚๐ก๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐‹๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ฐ: ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐“๐ž๐œ๐ก๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š ๐ฃ๐จ๐› ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐Ž๐–!

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/. If your participating State does not provide the option to apply online for seconded positions, you are kindly requested to submit your offline application form available at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form to the respective OSCE delegation whose address can be found at https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.


The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.


Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.


Please note that vacancies in the OSCE are open for competition only amongst nationals of participating States, please see https://www.osce.org/participating-states.


The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages the nomination of qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds.

The OSCE is a non-career organization committed to the principle of staff rotation; therefore, the maximum period of service in this post is 10 years.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.


Please apply to your relevant authorities well in advance of the deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of your application. Delayed nominations will not be considered. The OSCE can only process Secondment applications that have been nominated by participating States. For queries relating to your application, please refer to the respective delegation as listed here: https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please be aware that OSCE appointments are subject to medical clearance.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process. Additional Information

Issued by: OSCE Secretariat Requisition ID: SEC000827 Contract Type: International Secondment Grade: S Job Type: Seconded Number of posts: 1 Location: SEC - OSCE Secretariat, Vienna Issue Date: Jun 19, 2025 Closing Date: Jul 31, 2025 Employee Status: Fixed Term Schedule: Full-time Education Level: Master's Degree (Second-level university degree or equivalent) Target Start Date: As soon as possible

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