Varsities in humanitarian law contest

Students from three Tanzanian universities are among eight African countries   taking part in this year’s moot court competition on international humanitarian law (IHL).

The competition was mandated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Arusha. 

An ICRC official, Lynette Kamau told reporters here that the final round will take place at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based here, which is slated to shut its doors by late next month.
  ICTR president, Judge Vagn Joensen was slated to adjudicate the session with two other judges.

“This year, 36 students are participating in the All Africa Moot Court Competition on IHL. The ICRC has been organising the competition for 14 years in Arusha,” she elaborated.

The ICRC’s regional legal advisor, Umesh Kadam said the competition generates a lot of interest among law students in Africa.

“This often inspires them to pursue a career in international law,” Kadam said, noting that this is one among initiatives implemented by the ICRC to raise awareness about international humanitarian law.

Undergraduate students from Makerere University in Kampala, Moi University in Eldoret, will be participating along with those from Strathmore University, a UK university with a branch in Nairobi, Ruaha Catholic University of Iringa, Uganda Christian University, University of Rwanda at Kigali, University of Abuja in Nigeria, University of Zanzibar, University of Johannesburg, University of Zimbabwe and University of Bahir-Dar Amharic National University  of Ethiopia at Addis Ababa.

“The competition has been going on for one week. Students compete for five preliminary rounds, semi-finals and the final round.

Students are placed in a fictional conflict situation in which they are assigned different roles to play in diverse scenarios to demonstrate their legal knowledge and skills,” the ICRC official noted.

The competition is accompanied by lectures from ICRC and Rwanda Tribunal staff as well as discussions on topics related to various case studies. Since its inception in 2001, more than 400 students from different African universities have taken part.