Republic of Moldova

National Consultant in the psychiatric institutions (patients’ advocate)

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00625

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	04 Sep 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	15 Sep 2014
Reference to the project:	Strengthening National Capacities to Protect the Most Vulnerable from Torture in Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	September 2014 - August 2015
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 4 September 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: evghenii.golosceapov@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. Important notice The applicant who has the statute of Government Official / Public Servant, prior to appointment will be asked to submit the following documentation: a no-objection letter in respect of the applicant received from the government, and; the applicant is certified in writing by the government to be on official leave without pay for the duration of the Individual Contract. A retired government official is not considered in this case a government official, and as such, may be contracted.
Supporting Documents: Termeni de Referinta Terms of Reference Круг обязанностей Anunt de participare al consultantului individual Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Уведомление о закупке услуг индивидуального консультанта Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Torture remains to be a serious human rights violation in Moldova and not all of the aspects of this violation are addressed properly. The legal framework on general torture prevention and combatting are improving gradually. At the same time, impunity for torture remains one of the most acute problems. Thus, ECHR has released 27 judgments on Moldova in 2012, out of which 13 judgments were on torture and ill-treatment.  Prosecutors received 970 torture related complaints in 2012, criminal investigation was started in 140 cases, just 46 cases were sent to the courts and sentences on 37 cases were released regarding 62 persons most of which were sentences with the suspension of execution, some of them acquitted and just one person sentenced to a real prison term. 

In February 2013 international standards on freedom from torture have experienced a new milestone development with the release of the UN Special Rapporteur’s on Torture report focusing on the “certain forms of abuses in health care settings that may cross the threshold of mistreatment that is tantamount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” The Report notes the prevalence of torture against stigmatized  groups, including  against women and men with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.

In the Republic of Moldova about 98,000 persons have psychosocial or intellectual disabilities out of which 21,116 persons were hospitalised to psychiatric hospitals in 2012, about 2,200 persons are held in psycho-neurological internats (care homes), and about 3,000 adults are deprived of their legal capacity and thus are legally deprived from the possibility to protect their rights themselves. Women and men, who are held in mental health facilities, are marginalised and unseen in and by the society. They are not empowered to make their voices heard.

The problem of torture and ill-treatment in mental health facilities is an emerging issue in Moldova, which has not been adequately addressed both in legislation and practice in spite of numerous complaints from the part of persons held there.

Starting from 2011 UNDP supported the Ministry of Health in establishing a pilot independent complaint mechanism (ombudsperson for psychiatry) to identify the human rights violations in psychiatric hospitals and further on in the psycho-neurologic internats under the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has provided methodological and substantive guidance for the pilot Ombudsperson in Psychiatry since the beginning of this arrangement.  The pilot Ombudsperson in psychiatric institutions,  who provided legal consultancy and drafted monitoring reports on the situation in psychiatric hospitals and neurological internats, has received in October 2012 – July 2013 (during 9 months of her work) 5622 complaints from 1474 institutionalised persons (960 women and 514 men), all of whom complained about several violations, including 281 complaints (5%) on physical abuse, 674 (12%) – on the lack of information about treatment, 955 (17%) – on the lack of informed consent on institutionalization and treatment, etc.  The ECtHR found that Moldova violated ECHR Art. 3 (in terms of inhumane treatment) and Art. 5 (in terms of deprivation of liberty) in two psychiatry related cases: David vs. Moldova and Gorobet vs. Moldova. In addition to this, Center for Human Rights (CHR) and National Torture Preventive Mechanism (NPM) have released their monitoring reports to several psychiatry institutions listing a number of problems, including the complaints of institutionalized persons on ill-treatment from the part of staff persons of the institutions. ,   Taking this situation into account, National Legal Aid Council has compiled a list of 13 legal aid lawyers wishing to work on cases of persons held in psychiatric institutions in a priority order. 

With a common UN advocacy effort, the Ministry of Health institutionalized in 2014 the independent complaint mechanism into the official structures (National Centre for Health Management). Yet, more technical support is needed to strengthen the capacities of this mechanism. Therefore the UNDP will support, with expert guidance from OHCHR, the work of the psychiatry patient’s rights service by providing a consultant to ensure quality continuation of the started work and increasing the impact.

Scope of work

The scope of work of the psychiatry patients’ advocate will be:

1. To work with individuals and groups in the organization to explore and assist them in determining options to help resolve conflicts, problematic issues or concerns, and
2. To bring systemic concerns to the attention of the organization for resolution.

 

In order to achieve objectives the National Consultant shall:

• Ensure (along with institution administration) that information about the service is visible and accessible in all wards and departments of the institution;
• Periodic check (at least twice per month of each institution) that all institution staff ensure full and unlimited access of users to filing complaints or addressing the psychiatry patients’ advocate;
• Check of complaint records resolved at the ward level, and/or overtaking appeals to these resolutions;
• Processing of users complaints on an informal basis by such means as: listening, providing and receiving information, identifying and reframing issues, developing a range of responsible options, and – with the permission of complainant and at psychiatry patients’ advocate discretion – engaging in informal third-party intervention. When possible, the psychiatry patients’ advocate helps people develop new ways to solve problems themselves;
• Pursues resolution of concerns and looks into procedural irregularities and/or broader systemic problems when appropriate;
• The psychiatry patients’ advocate identifies trends, issues and concerns about policies and procedures, including potential future issues and concerns, without breaching confidentiality or anonymity, and provides recommendations for responsibly addressing them;
• Is entitled to bring significant cases to court or to other relevant institutions, if it is not resolved informally or the issue is systemic and relevant recommendations of the psychiatry patients’ advocate are not considered and effectively implemented;
• Follow-up of complaint resolving;
• Follow up of systemic changes as corrective and preventive actions (CAPAs);
• Actively acts in wards, at admissions, especially at involuntary confinement, compulsory criteria for positively observe and ensure protection of the rights of residents and users of the psychiatry institutions, etc.;
• Provides training for the psychiatry institutions staff on international and national standards on the rights of persons with disabilities and the responsibilities of the psychiatry institutions staff;
• Checks that ongoing clinical studies involving patients are approved by relevant ethics committees and follow legal and regulatory requirements in the field;
• Periodic users satisfaction surveys;
• The psychiatry patients’ advocate has access to all departments of the institution, to procedures and records in these departments;
• The patients’ advocate observes and is entitled to independently identify human rights issues;
• These issues are included in the consultant’s report but can be separately brought to the attention of the policy and lawmakers.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in law, human rights, social sciences, pedagogy, medicine or other relevant fields;

Years of experience and sphere of experience:

• At least 2 years of proven professional experience in the area of the rights of persons with disabilities;
• Advanced knowledge of Moldovan health system and practical human rights issues in the mental health field;
• Previous experience of work with/in international organizations on human rights issues is a strong advantage;

 Competencies:

• Adheres to the core values of the United Nations; in particular, is respectful of differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
• Proven commitment to universal human rights and rights of persons with disabilities (knowledge of UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is a must);
• Ability to work independently; auto-evaluation, monitoring and report writing;
• Ability of effective inter-personal relationships and counselling with both patients and authorities;
• Fluency in Romanian and Russian;
• Knowledge of one or more additional languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language is an asset;
• Knowledge of English would be an advantage;

 Personal qualities: independency, discretion.

The UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

1. Technical Proposal: 
   1. explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work;
   2. describing the methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work;
2. Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form /P11) including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained;
3. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying an all inclusive daily fee).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal will specify the all inclusive daily fee (including taxes, travel expenses, communication costs etc.) quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

 

Disclaimer In case of discrepancies between the text published on the website and the contents of the supporting documents, the provisions, instructions and conditions included in the supporting documents (published as Adobe Portable Document Format files) shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the English version and the Romanian and/or Russian versions of text, documents or other content published on this webpage, the English version shall prevail.

Notice UNDP, as a matter of practice, does not charge any application, processing or training fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions as to vacancy announcements you may have received, please refer to this website. UNDP is currently aware of fictitious vacancy announcements that are being circulated through the internet, the purpose of which is to get people to register for a training and send in a fee. If you believe that you have received such a notice, please forward it, and any other related information you have received, to scamalert@undp.org. Since logos, emblems, names and addresses can be easily copied or reproduced, you are advised to take particular care in applying for vacancies, including undertaking all appropriate measures to protect against the unauthorised use of any personal information you may have provided as a result of the scam.