Elizabeth Mosima
7 May 2008
The first edition of the National Competition for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is underway in Yaounde. Organised by the Central African Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the competition brings together 28 candidates and four trainees from some State owned universities and institutions of higher learning.
The competition is aimed at inciting students to study and practice humanitarian law in the universities and to consolidate its integration in the academic milieu. The selection of students is the right of the institution and the students are expected to have a good knowledge on IHL to ensure good performance. The national competition on humanitarian law constitutes a pedagogic tool to enable the students learn for themselves the mechanisms and use of the law.
Speaking during the launching, the Head of the Central African Regional Delegation, Philippe Gaillard, said the goal of the national competition is to enable participants realise the fullness of IHL and that the law is an affair which all authorities and signatories of the Geneva Conventions have an obligation to respect.
Each institution is presenting three candidates in the competition which will run for three days. Also each team is being guided by a lecturer or a doctorate degree student. Yesterday was mainly familiarisation with the International Humanitarian Law with a presentation on the new challenges of IHL. Today focus will be on the eliminatory phase while tomorrow will be the semi finals and finals. The competition will consist of a study of a practical case by the teams which will answer a series of questions on the programme and from the jury. They will then be evaluated on their knowledge in International Humanitarian Law and their capacity to play a role in order to know their capacity to persuade as well as their intelligence.
At the end of the competition, the institution that wins will be selected to represent the country in the Pan African competition which will take place next year. The venue of the competition is yet to be determined. The International Committee of the Red Cross supports universities and higher institutions of learning in the teaching of IHL notably through the training of teachers and also providing pertinent documentation for students.
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