This year, our team competed, for the first time, in the All-European International Humanitarian and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition, and, after a challenging and thrilling final round against Sofia University ‘St Kliment Ohridski’, was declared the winner by a unanimous decision!
Led by Dr Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos, our team consisted of the undergraduate Despoina Papadela and the postgraduates in the LLM in International and European Law Programme, Polyxeni Dimopoulou and Spyridon Leonis. Polyxeni also emerged as the best oralist of the final round. Our team members demonstrated extraordinary legal ability, agility in role-play, and remarkable public speaking throughout this rigorous competition, which they won, and deservedly so.
The All-European International Humanitarian and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition 2022 is based on a case study carefully designed by the organizer, i.e., the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for the Refugees (UNHCR). This case study examines the issues related to international humanitarian and refugee law, drawing on the current situation. Its goal is to motivate students to study and comprehend the fundamental concepts of international humanitarian and refugee law by tackling specific legal problems and practising their legal argumentation skills in front of experienced judges and members of the committee.
The impressive premises of the University of Ljubljana hosted this 7th edition of the renowned All-European International Humanitarian and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition from 15 to 18 November 2022. The University’s Faculty of Law organized the competition (Professor Vasilka Sancin) with the support of the ICRC, the UNHCR, and the Slovenian Red Cross.
The hospitality extended to us during our visit and the excellent organization guarantee that the NKUA School of Law will participate again next year. As a team, we are grateful to Professor Vasilka Sancin and Dr Maruša Veber for arranging such an exciting competition.
Our team would also like to heartily thank the delegation of the ICRC in Athens for their genuine concern and total support; without them, our team’s participation in the competition would not have been possible.
Finally, we would like to express our deep appreciation to the academic staff of the Department of International Studies at the University of Athens School of Law, who encouraged our participation from the start and never stopped, and, of course, to the administrative staff for all their help throughout our preparation.
