Hi..
Am an indian law student doing my LLB..
am very much intrested in working at organisations like international court of justice,and other organs of uno...i want to know what all i have to do for getting in there..am intrested in public international relations,human rights and environmental laws.
do i have to acquire an LLM from an foreign university for that or my indian degree is enough..?does that organisations have any entrance examinations..what are they...when should i approach it...
anybody with the knowledge of it..PLZZ HELP.....

UN entrance examinations:
http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ets.shtml

I suggest you do an internship first, it may well put you off working for the UN and save you the trouble of doing the exam! Or on the other hand, it may help you establish the connections you need in the relevant bodies to be picked up, having passed the exam.

Every UN body runs its own internship programme so just look up the bodies that interest you and apply to their programmes.

Once you are an experienced professional, you can also apply for UN vacancy announcements. You need to get your career back home started and then you can start monitoring vacancies. Again, connections (via internships) will help.

As an Indian national, you can't participate in the 2010 round of the National Competitive Recruitment Exams - the eligible nationalities are decided each year based on whether there is a "shortage" of such nationals among UN employees. You will have to wait for India to come up as an eligible NCRE nationality. The lists on the web site above.

In the meantime, you should qualify and specialise in your chosen field so that you become eligible also for the ad hoc vacancy announcements. You mention several fields that interest you - if your main objective is to work for the UN, you could also consider specialising in public procurement law, human resources/employment law and other administrative law.

Hi johannahj thank you somuch for your kind reply...
I gone through NRCE list of countries and hope india will be there in coming years..
As these NRCE countries are not permanent,if one gets selected and wants to work permanently,will it be possible(though it is a 2 year contract) in any other organs of UN..? Can one try for a job in which he/she has not specialised(have studied in undergraduation)....

The NRCE countries change from year to year based on what nationalities there is a shortage among UN staff, based (I believe) on population sizes of member States. For instance when South Africa rejoined, and when Switzerland joined, there would at once have been a major "shortage" of those nationalities among staff.

I have no detailed knowledge of the NCRE process, not having gone through it myself, but I believe the result if one is successful is a permanent contract, or at least a renewable contract with the permanent or core part of the UN (as opposed to the projects side). The expectation of UN employees is to move around the system, including geographically to danger zones, so I suspect that one can move around to various organizations within the UN family, as long as the position is on the core UN budget.

I am sure I have heard of people who had legal training but did not do the legal affairs exam because they thought it would be more difficult, but did some other exam such as public affairs or something like that. I could not tell you how valid that strategy is, but it seems to indicate that you have a choice of what exam you want to take.

ok johannah plz keep me posted if u get to know any info about it....

Sorry mitra that's all I know... :-)

oh plz dont be sory...u've helped me a lot...thank u....:-)

Actually mitra, there is one more thing that completely slipped my mind - do internet searches for "Associate Expert" and for "Junior Professional Officer".

These are positions that are created under nationally controlled programmes. Most of the more affluent countries have them (although as far as I know not the UK). The positions are funded by the state, but the young professional is employed by the UN. The positions are for a duration of 2-4 years and are designed to give young professionals an experience of the UN. Most countries that provide such positions reserve them for their own nationals, but the Netherlands at least in the past admitted also people from developing countries. If they still do this, it might be worth looking at their list of "developing countries" to see if you qualify as an Indian national. Some people who have started out on such a position end up working in the UN.

Actually, there were two more things: don't forget to also look up the World Bank - I think they have a recruitment scheme called Young Professionals that might be relevant.

ok i'll do that....

...and to return to your original question - should you get an LLM? My answer is yes. It's very competitive so anything that can boost your chances is a good idea: qualification in your home jurisdiction, specialisation, language studies (any of the six UN languages) and whatever else you can think of. Some of your competitors will be from civil law jurisdictions where a law degree longer than three years, including specialisation in the final year, is the norm. A PhD usually replaces two years of work experience so it can boost your chances too.

sure i'll consider that....But which is more preferred, a foreign PG degree from a reputed university or an indian one(coz you said qualification in your home jurisdiction)... NO indian law university is ranked among the top 50 in world. further as you said i should have a career ready while i apply to the UN.In this case i would go for a foreign degree(would like to know your view in this). An LLM in india is mostly for teaching(must say 90%) and i dont have any intention of taking up teaching in my country(even the salary is miserable for teachers here). Is there good prospect for indian LLM in abroad (including teaching if not india....) or would that be good if i acquire a foreign pg degree,come back and work in my country(ofcourse not teaching here...sad to say this...)...........
hope am not bugging you tooo much :-).......

I couldn't say, I really don't know the market in India... For university teaching in other countries you should probably aim for a PhD rather than an LLM.

I admit I was thinking of a foreign LLM and not an Indian one(I guess US and UK are the most obvious choices). This is simply because Indian Universities are not well known, so a degree from a university in a better known system will help prove that you are up to the standard required.

By qualification at home I meant qualification as a solicior/barrister/advocate, which puts a bit of work experience onto your CV - most UN positions advertised through the Galaxy system (which can be reached through any UN organisation web site) require you to have at least two years' work experience.

I take that n hope to do my masters in UK,as US is much costlier... you mind if i reach you in coming days(years) for further guidance.....??:-)

I always try to answer questions as best I can!

:-)......