International Criminal Law Moot Court Competion: Second Year

PCHR Organizes the International Criminal Law Moot Court Competition for the Second Year

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) will organize the International Criminal Law Moot Court Competition in the Gaza Strip on 07 and 08 September 2013. The International Criminal Law Moot Court is a project implemented for the second consecutive year by PCHR, funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and sponsored by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in cooperation with al-Azhar University, the Islamic University and Palestine University.

A local jury will supervise the competition and select the winning team, as the international judges and experts who were expected to join the jury were not able to enter the Gaza Strip due to the latest political and security conditions in Egypt.

During the competition, 30 students, who were selected according to excellence criteria from the three universities, will compete against one another. Each group includes 10 students who will be divided into 2 teams: the prosecution and defense. The competing groups will address legal cases through oral arguments and written submissions in order to convince the jury in the context of a fictional criminal case.

PCHR inaugurated the Moot Court Project for this year on 30 January 2013, after which, the targeted students received professional legal training for 8 months. The training that was supervised by 3 legal experts tackled topics related to the international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights. Moreover, international legal experts visited the Gaza Strip and trained the students in the context of their professional experience on the provisions of the international law at the theoretical and practical levels.

It should be noted the Moot Court Competition is unique. It targets law students in the Gaza Strip universities during the scholastic year in order to enable them understand the IHL, international criminal law and international human rights law. Furthermore it is planned to enhance the students' skills and promote their legal abilities relevant to use the law.

PCHR had the initiative to implement the first Moot Court Project in the Gaza Strip in 2012 as part of its efforts to transfer its experience throughout years of litigation in order to expand the field of knowledge.

ENDS

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