The team of the Faculty of Law took part in Martens Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law

The competition was held from 3 to 6 October. 20 teams took part in the competition, including 12 from Russia, and the rest from other countries such as Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. 

The Guardians of Humanity team, consisting of 3rd year undergraduate students Roman Abrashin, Arina Medvedeva and Gordey Yumashev, represented our University and the Moscow campus. The team was preparing for this Moot Court for 8 months under the guidance of the coaches: V.N. Rusinova, Anastasia Burnakina, a second-year student of the Master's program in Law of International trade and Dispute Resolution, and Olga Ganina, a graduate of this program. Also, the team would like to express special thanks to G.I. Bogush and A.P. Evseev for help in studying international criminal law. During the preparation the guys studied all the topics from the course on international humanitarian law regarding the qualification of armed conflicts, determining the status of its participants, the concept of military objectives and civilian objects and many others. 

This year's competition was held at the Barefoot Recreation Center.  The key theme of the competition was the storyline and characters from the cartoon "How to Train Your Dragon", which included "Shaggy Pirates" (organized armed groups) and dangerous types of dragons which are capable of making indiscriminate attacks (prohibited means of warfare).  In total, six rounds and a final were held, which tested not only legal knowledge and team building but also diplomacy and oratory skills.  It is important to note that this competition is special, it is not a classic moot court, but rather a role-playing game using knowledge of international humanitarian law in a fictional armed conflict. In this year the final round was a discussion of the factual circumstances between the two states with the participation of the International Fact-Finding Commission. Turkmenistan' s team won the final, and Armenia's team took became finalist. 

The students liked to participate in the competition, especially it was useful for them to try on so many roles in two days.  So, the "Guardians of Humanity" were legal advisers, defense ministers, representatives of the ICRC, representatives of the UNHCR and even "Shaggy Pirates"!  The team especially enjoyed the field round, where they showed themselves extremely diplomatically and politely in dialogue with the head of the camp and the guards, and communicated correctly with prisoners of war and the wounded and obtained the necessary information about their conditions of detention.  Thanks to Martens Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law  the team gained valuable experience of participation in international competitions and made new friends.