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MOOT COURTS ON ISSUES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW
the South African city of Pretoria. The PF UK’s team succeeded in heavy competition,
where only 3 teams from each region of the world were chosen, based on the quality
of written submissions, and among the 16 world’s best resulting teams that were
invited to the semifinals in Pretoria. Each team represented both the applicant and
the respondent twice. That such competition is a very good experience is illustrated
by the following statement of Tomáš Jungwirth, one of the PF UK’s team members:
“
The World Human Rights Moot Court in Pretoria was unique for me not only due
to the 40 degrees Celsius temperature difference between the Czech Republic and South
Africa during December, but also and mostly due to the quality of the competition and
its organization. The fact that judicial senates’ members were also coaches of the teams
themselves strengthened the objectivity as well as the reach of the questions that judges
have been asking. Nonetheless they were not softer to competitors and haven’t avoided an
even slightly confrontational approach.
” A confrontational approach may make the
competitors sweat in many moot courts; however, it is a very good experience for
their future life, where it is not unusual to face tasks that need to be done quickly
and sometimes on the spot.
There are also many regional moot courts, and, of course, Europe, with its
developed system of human rights protection, offers many opportunities to simulate
various international body proceedings. One of the most important international
human rights protection systems is that system based on the Council of Europe’s
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Similar
to the previously mentioned competitions, the
European Human Rights Moot Court
Competition
simulates real proceedings. It begins with a complaint to the Court, and
the competition is based on a fictitious scenario that the participants need to use as
a basis for a written complaint while the 16 best teams are chosen to compete in the
European rounds. The very exciting part of the competition is that the organizing
body (The European Law Student’s Association) cooperates with the Council of
Europe, and the rounds will take place within the premises of the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg. Such an experience is something that many members
of actual real advocacy dream of, and the participants have thus the possibility to
show their skills even before completing their undergraduate studies. Another very
interesting feature is that the winning team is awarded with a one month traineeship
at the European Court of Human Rights. The PF UK’s team also participated in
this moot court competition last year, under the supervision of Dr. Wintr, from the
Department of Legal Theory and Legal Doctrines (The Department of International
Law is going to take over the coaching next year.) and Mgr. Vikarská. The team made
it through to the 16 best and so competed in the European rounds, where they were
the 7
th
best team.
Unlike Jessup and some similar moot courts that usually deal with many fields of
public international law, there are also many competitions that focus on a particular
topic. The delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sarajevo
organized a regional moot court in humanitarian law. The competition took place in