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China: students shine at humanitarian law moot court competition
17-05-2011 Photo gallery
From across Asia and the Pacific they came to Hong Kong for the lights – though not those of the famous city skyline. Instead, students from 20 universities stood under the spotlight of the courtroom to compete in the 9th Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot.
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Over three days in March 2011, acting as prosecutor or defence lawyer, students from as far afield as Bangladesh, Beijing, Cambodia, Canberra, Singapore and Sri Lanka faced tough questions from judges in the case of a colonel accused of war crimes in a fictional armed conflict.
In its ninth year, the event is aimed at promoting international humanitarian law (IHL), raising awareness of international humanitarian issues among law students, enhancing knowledge and application of IHL, promoting the spirit of humanity among law students and instilling knowledge of the role and work of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement.
This year, the Law Moot brought together nearly 60 students, their coaches and more than 60 legal experts as judges and special guests. The event was organized by the Hong Kong Red Cross, the ICRC and the faculties of law of the University of Hong Kong, City University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
After an intense final round before a crowd of spectators at the Hong Kong High Court, the participants from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand won the prize for top team. The team from Hidayatullah National Law University of Raipur, India finished a close second.
“I absolutely loved every bit of it,” said Sarah Wilson, a member of the winning team. “There are so many different teams here. It was wonderful just getting to meet everybody involved, like the mooters, the coaches and the judges, who all have so much experience. I’ll take so much away with me.”
At the award ceremony, Geoffrey Ma, Honourable Chief Justice of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, said: “The event highlights justice and what a fair trial entails. However serious the charge, however atrocious the activity, a fair trial is an absolute necessity for those who are accused.”
For all teams, the road to Hong Kong had started long before the competition, and involved many late nights studying IHL. Most teams had already competed in a local round to earn a spot at this regional event. The photos below describe some of their journeys, from courtroom performances back home to making new memories and friends from around the diverse Asia-Pacific region.
Team members Sam Humphrey and Sarah Wilson (pictured) also took second and third place respectively for best mooter. With a major disaster having struck her own country just days before competition, Sarah commented: “I come from Christchurch, where the earthquake did terrible damage. The [New Zealand] Red Cross has done an incredible job helping out, taking donations and starting to help people put everything back together.”
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Preparing for the competition meant studying aspects of law that that some of the participants had not yet learned in university courses. In her first appearance at the moot court in Hong Kong, law student Kana Murai played the role of the defence, presenting her case in front of the moot court judges. She said she felt "nervous and overwhelmed" by the performances of other students, but the experience gave her the chance to debate with others about the challenges of applying IHL and the reality of people who are suffering in times of war. "I was happy because I could share opinions about this moot and some of the world’s problems," she said.
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The event is held in English, the common language that allows students from all over the region to participate and forms one of the two working languages of the International Criminal Court. Like many other participants from contexts where English is not a mother tongue, Luo Min found competing in English difficult. "We quickly found out that we had problems understanding the judges' questions," she said. "I have to improve my English skills in the future."
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The team from Raipur, India eventually took second place. Garima and her team spent many late nights studying IHL for the competition. "We’ve been working on IHL for almost nine months now,” she said. “There have been endless nights when we didn't sleep at all!"
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To prepare for the Asia-Pacific IHL moot competition, Joshua Teh Honguan and Ida Daniella binti Zulkifili had to overcome the distance between them – literally. With one member of the Universiti Utara Malaysia team based in Kedah and the other well over 100 km away in Penang, team practices and discussions were challenging to say the least. But the team members were no strangers to the Hong Kong IHL moot competition, having participated in the 2010 event. "We weren’t nervous, because we have plenty of experience of moot court competitions," said Ida, a 23-year-old law student who has also argued at the IHL moot competition in Malaysia and the Asia Cup International Law Moot.
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The South Korean team did not leave empty-handed: they were recognized for preparing one of the competition’s best memorials – written briefs analysing legal issues of the case. "We put in a lot of effort there. It was a meaningful time to learn something,” said a smiling Kim Woo-Joo, who hopes to be able to pass on some lessons to students representing his university in future moot competitions.
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