YEREVAN. – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Delegation in Armenia is pleased to announce the call for applications for its National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which will take place in Armenia on 8-10 December 2017.

The competition is one of the first moot courts introduced in Armenia by the ICRC in 2005. The objective of the event is to raise awareness of international humanitarian issues among law students and to enhance their knowledge of application of IHL rather than the black letter law.

What is IHL?

International humanitarian law is also known as the law of war and law of armed conflict. As a set of rules and principles, IHL aims, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of an armed conflict. It protects people who are not or no longer participate in hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare.

How does the National IHL Moot Court Competition differ from your standard mooting competition?

The competition aims to “take the law out of the books” exposing students to a variety of simulations and roleplays. Teams will present a verbal submission related to an area of international humanitarian law. Two weeks prior to the competition the selected teams will be invited to take part in introductory courses to prepare for their roleplays, improve their mooting and public speaking skills, and trainers will be assigned for the teams. The competition also adopts a round-robin style format, with finals held at the end for the teams who have done the best throughout the preliminary rounds. By doing away with the standard elimination format, it means that competitors are guaranteed to participate in several moots without the risk of being knocked out straight away.

“The IHL moot court was an opportunity to challenge myself. As for me, the moot court is mainly about handling stress and making decisions in time deficit. So the competition not only introduced me to out-of-books IHL, but also greatly enhanced my personality,” says Arthur Ghulyan, winner of the 2016 Moot Court Competition who was awarded an opportunity to take part in the International Law Summer School in Estonia.

Registration Requirements and Details

To register teams must consist of three students (undergraduate or above in Law, Political Science or International Relations) of Armenian higher educational institutions, including military academies. Members of the teams should be from the same institution, none of whom has taken part in the competition before. They should submit a collective application form and answer the international humanitarian law related questions suggested below.

Completed applications (either in English or in Armenian) should be submitted to the ICRC Delegation in Armenia (73/1 Nairi Zarian Street, 0014 Yerevan, Armenia) or sent to [email protected]. The deadline is 14 November 2017, 6 PM. Successful teams will be notified by 17 November 2017.

Selection and Awards

Only selected teams will take part in the competition. The ICRC will cover all expenses related to the transportation and accommodation during the event. The winning team of the competition will receive an opportunity to participate in a similar international event abroad.

QUESTIONS

What is the legal status of the International Committee of the Red Cross and what are the main guiding principles of the organisation? (max 900 words)

Is there a special regime for protection of cultural property in times of armed conflict and if yes, what are the main legal instruments for this protection? (max 500 words)