CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

VĚRA HONUSKOVÁ CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ or for instance a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees staff. The Czech Armed Forces soldiers act “as themselves” as soldiers, and the simulation serves as an exercise which helps all the participants to better understand International Humanitarian Law, International Refugee Law, and International Law of Armed Conflicts. It also helps the participants gain the perspective of the others; students better understand soldiers’ attitude and vice versa . This type of activity has its roots in role playing games: the students’ roles are described through the aims of the characters. 4 There are students who play the role of a UNHCR worker, who are obliged to learn about the UNHCR in advance and then apply their knowledge and understanding of the character. There is a pregnant woman who is going to deliver her baby in the military base (in the case that the commander lets her in) and whose child is going to be stateless. Some of the students play the role of legal advisors to the commander. There are many legal questions that need to be solved and students must act in compliance with the law. They of course do not know if they act accordingly; that is why supervisors for all sections (civilian, army) are present and take notes – and why professional feedback is given to all participants at the end. Besides learning law in practice students gain the experience of what it is like to be a refugee, a migrant, and a soldier. Each of those characters have different attitudes and perspectives in the simulation – and also in reality, which the students have a chance to experience because they are confronted with the reality of an armed conflict in a simulated environment. 5 During the simulation concerning the Council of the European Union on asylum, migration, and security issues, students play the roles of Member States in the Council of the European Union. They try to negotiate the text of a directive or a regulation in the respective area of law. There are meetings of the Council of the EU during which students play their roles: at first in a Working Group, then SCIFA, after that COREPER, and finally the Council of Ministers. Unexpectedly, many first-year students attend this course, so not only a general overview of the legislation process and the functioning of the Council of the EU in concreto is incorporated into the course, but also the basis of Migration and Asylum law is presented to them together with a deep insight into the particular issue of the planned negotiation. This academic year (2017/2018), the main issue was the proposal for a Dublin regulation IV; where students negotiated the corrective allocation mechanism (proposed articles 34-37). Continuous feedback is provided to students with respect to their performance after the meeting. The feedback concentrates on legal aspects as well as on the negotiation process as such. Students learn the positions of states, try to identify states with similar opinions (the position of Hungary and the Visegrad countries in general was hard this year), and figure out that legal knowledge is essential at the beginning of the work of the Working Group before more politics gets involved. Feedback is provided not only by a faculty supervisor, but also by employees of the Czech Interior Ministry who themselves attend the meetings in Brussels. This year the negotiations were successful as students adopted a finalized text and seemed like they would be more successful than the states will be in reality. 4 This particular simulation is “LARP”, live action role playing. It can be used as a teaching method, see for instance an article at Nordic Larp.Org (a website for LARP players) Learning by Playing – Larp As a Teaching Method. Online at https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/04/learning-by-playing-larp-as-a-teaching-method/ [accessed 12 July 2018]. 5 For more information see also FAIX, M., HONUSKOVÁ, V. Reality in a game - a game in reality? Simulation as a practical form of law education in international humanitarian law (Realita ve hře – hra v realitě? Simulace jako praktická forma právnického vzdělávání v oblasti mezinárodního humanitárního práva). Jurisprudence 1/2018, pp. 44-45.

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