Compassionate Advocates
The Paris Principles require that a National Human Rights Institution be accessible to the public and reflect the diversity of the society it serves. Accessibility is not automatic — it requires people who can communicate across the gap between institutional process and lived experience, who can help affected individuals understand what the IAJ does and how to engage with it, and who embody the institution's commitment to human dignity in every interaction. Compassionate advocates are those people.
How This Role Serves the IAJ's Shadow NHRI Function
An NHRI that has extraordinary legal expertise and methodological rigour but is inaccessible to the people it is supposed to serve is not meeting its Paris Principles mandate. Accessibility requires translation — not linguistic translation alone, but the translation of complex legal and human rights concepts into language and process that people who have been harmed by institutional systems can actually navigate.
The IAJ's complaint population — the 500+ individuals who have registered since August 2025 — are people who have been failed by domestic institutions. They are often experiencing ongoing harm, often in the middle of active legal proceedings, often without legal representation, and often without a clear understanding of how the IAJ's work relates to their situation. Compassionate advocates are the bridge between those people and the institutional process that the IAJ runs.
This function corresponds directly to what Paris Principles NHRIs describe as their complaint-handling accessibility mandate: the obligation to maintain transparent complaint procedures that are genuinely open to the public, to provide information to complainants about their rights and the available process, and to ensure that the NHRI's accessibility reflects the demographic reality of those whose rights are most frequently violated. Advocates who speak languages other than English, who have lived experience of the judicial systems the IAJ investigates, or who have professional backgrounds in social work, community organizing, or victim services address specific dimensions of this mandate.
Advocates also serve the IAJ's outreach and awareness function — ensuring that people who have experienced violations and might qualify to submit a complaint actually know the IAJ exists and what it does. The IAJ's statistical record — 500+ registrants — depends partly on people finding out about the IAJ, and that depends on advocates who spread accurate information about the institution's work.
Your Contribution to Standards Evolution and Quality Assurance
Every volunteer in this role contributes directly to the on-going evolution, improvement, and quality assurance of the standards governing the Compassionate Advocates track — and, as applicable to your scope of work, to every other IAJ standard you touch. The IAJ's methodological frameworks, investigative protocols, tribunal rules, documentation templates, training modules, and published standards are living documents. Volunteers test them, critique them, identify gaps and ambiguities, propose refinements, and in doing so advance the institution's methodological rigour. Contribution to standards development and quality assurance is an expected and welcomed part of every volunteer engagement with the IAJ — not an optional add-on.
What the IAJ Is Looking For
Communication Across Difference
Ability to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, including people who are in crisis, people who distrust institutions, and people who have had harmful experiences with the legal system. Advocates must be able to listen without judgment and explain without condescension.
Process Understanding
Sufficient understanding of the IAJ's complaint process, tribunal services, and research functions to accurately explain them to potential complainants and witnesses. Advocates who provide inaccurate information about what the IAJ can and cannot do cause harm.
Boundaries
Ability to provide genuine support and accurate information without creating unrealistic expectations about outcomes, without providing legal advice, and without becoming personally enmeshed in complainants' cases in ways that compromise objectivity or professional limits.
Commitment to Human Dignity
A genuine, deeply-held belief in the equal dignity of every person — including people who are accused of violations, people whose cases are rejected, and people whose complaints fall outside the IAJ's mandate. Advocates represent the institution in every interaction.
Reliability
Consistency and follow-through. Advocates who begin relationships with complainants and then become unavailable cause harm. This role requires the reliability to be present when needed and to communicate honestly when capacity is limited.
What You Will Do
- › Provide outreach and public education about the IAJ's services in communities disproportionately affected by judicial human rights violations
- › Help individuals understand whether their situation may be relevant to the IAJ's work and how to navigate the complaint registration process
- › Assist complainants who are navigating the IAJ's processes and need support understanding what is happening and what to expect
- › Represent the IAJ at community events, public forums, and awareness initiatives, accurately describing the institution's mandate and work
- › Identify underserved communities and populations whose experiences are not adequately reflected in the IAJ's current complaint population
- › Contribute to the IAJ's public communications: website content, social media, community newsletters, and other materials that make the institution accessible
- › Provide feedback to IAJ staff and volunteers on barriers to access that advocates encounter in their outreach work
Credentials & Background
No formal degree requirement. Background in social work, community organizing, victim services, public health outreach, peer advocacy, legal aid, or related fields is relevant and valued. Lived experience of the judicial systems the IAJ investigates — as a litigant, family member of a litigant, or affected community member — is a genuine qualification for this role. Multi-lingual capacity is strongly valued. What the IAJ requires is demonstrated reliability, genuine compassion, and the discipline to represent the institution accurately and honestly in every interaction.
Apply for This Role
Applications are reviewed by IAJ staff and responded to individually. In your application, reference this role and describe how your background prepares you to contribute to the IAJ's function as a shadow NHRI.