Tanzania: University of Zimbabwe wins moot court competition
24-11-2011 News Release 11/238
Nairobi (ICRC) – A team of three students from the University of Zimbabwe has won the 2011 pan-African moot court competition on international humanitarian law. The aim of the week-long competition, held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 12 to 19 November and sponsored by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was to boost interest in international humanitarian law among students and academic institutions in Africa.
Eleven teams representing eight African countries (Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria) participated.
In the final round, held in one of the trial chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) before a panel of five judges from the ICRC and ICTR, Kenya's Egerton University took second place.
''The competition was very close, with both teams displaying tenacity and putting forth arguments of impressive quality,'' said Judge Seon-Ki Park of the ICTR.
The prize for best speaker at the finals went to Zimbabwe's Taona Nyamakura, who will do a three-month internship at the ICTR courtesy of the ICRC. Judge Park commended him, saying that ''Taona demonstrated an exceptional ability to respond to the judges' questions.''
In further recognition of the cooperation between the ICRC and ICTR, the students were given the opportunity to visit the tribunal on the day the trial chamber handed down its verdict in the case of Prosecutor v. Grégoire Ndahimana.
"This was a rare chance for the students, who came from all over Africa, to witness international criminal justice at work and to understand the importance of enforcing the law where violations are found to have been committed," said Umesh Kadam, an ICRC legal adviser.
The moot court competition is one of many initiatives undertaken by the ICRC with the aim of raising awareness of and promoting compliance with international humanitarian law.
For more information, please contact:
Anne Mucheke, ICRC Nairobi, tel: +254 733 660076 or +254 272 3963
Tendayi Segwe, ICRC Harare, tel: +263 772 240960
