Sierra Leone:students impress judges at a moot court competition in IHL
09-12-2005 News Release
The following was issued as a press release by the ICRC's delegation in Freetown.
Organizers and members of the jury at a moot court competition in international humanitarian law (IHL) held in Arusha, Tanzania have been impressed by the expertise of three students from Salone.
Although Osman Jalloh, Gerard Cole and Drucil Taylor did not win, they said they had a great experience that had offered them an opportunity to confront some of the finest minds in Africa.
" We want to help the students who will represent our country next year " , said the three students after their return. Concerning their future, they expressed the wish to continue the exploration of IHL. " When we prepared the competition with the ICRC and during our trip, we noticed the importance of International Humanitarian Law not only for our country, but also for humanity " , they added.
13 teams of three students, from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe contested three preliminary rounds after which two teams were selected for the final, which was held in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The jury was presided over by the President of the Tribunal, Judge Eric Møse, with two other judges of the ICTR also sitting as well as three representatives from the ICRC.
The team from the University of Nairobi School of Law (LAN) in Kenya was the eventual winner with the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) runners-up.
The ICRC's Moot Court competition was initially started in late 2000 for Kenyan university students, but has since grown to include other countries in and outside East Africa.
Osman Jallo h, Gerard Cole and Drucil Taylor were the three winning students from the First Moot Court Competition in Sierra Leone organised on the 10th of October 2005 by the ICRC in Freetown. This competition was organized within the framework of its mandate to support the efforts of States in disseminating International Humanitarian Law.
The second Moot Court of Sierra Leone will take place in July 2006.
For further information, please contact:
Patrick Massaquoi, ICRC Freetown, tel. ++232 76 632 753
Philippe Stoll, ICRC Freetown, tel. ++232 76 821 506