Beijing - The tenth edition of the international humanitarian law (IHL) moot competition- an inter-university competition on IHL -opens today in China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Northern Beijing. Co-organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and CUPL, the competition will run for 3 days and bring together 32 teams from institutes and universities across the country. The three finalist teams will be funded by the ICRC to participate in the 15th Asia-Pacific reginal IHL moot court competition in Hong Kong in 2017.
"Our objective in organizing such a competition is to boost interest in international humanitarian law among academic institutions. We want to encourage future generations of leaders and opinion-makers to study international humanitarian law and familiarize themselves with its principles," explained Richard Desgagne, Regional Legal Advisor of the ICRC. ''Students will be required to 'take the law out of the books' through simulation and role playing in a fictional, but realistic, conflict scenario,'' said Richard Desgagne. ''The jury will then evaluate the participants' theoretical and practical knowledge of international humanitarian law."
The ICRC has been organizing the IHL moot court competition on the Chinese mainland since 2007. The competition was held in Beijing for the first five years before being moved to cities like Wuhan, Shanghai, Jilin and Xiamen.
"As we have witnessed over the past 10 years, batches of young students have learnt about the IHL and the ICRC through the competition", said Guo Yang, Senior Political Advisor at ICRC Regional Delegation in Beijing. "Some of the previous competitors have joined the ICRC, while some others have widened their knowledge on international law and are now exploring or working in the field of the international rule of law. We are very pleased and encouraged by that."
More than 20 judges from national or international colleges and universities, think tanks, law firms, courts and relevant government departments have been invited to comment on participants' performance.
For further information, please contact:
Valery Mbaoh Nana, ICRC Regional Delegation for East Asia, Beijing, tel: +86 186 0025 3392
Michael Zhang, ICRC Regional Delegation for East Asia, Beijing, tel: +86 138 1003 5522
or visit our website: www.icrc.org
To preview and download the latest ICRC video footage in broadcast quality, go to www.icrcvideonewsroom.org
To find out what the ICRC is doing to put an end to attacks on health workers and patients, go to
www.healthcareindanger.org
