The University of Luxembourg actively supports problem-based learning (PBL) through Moot Court trainings. Following the success of our first and second Moot court ‘training the trainers’ in November 2021 and March 2022, Lao lecturers were eager to deepen their mooting skills and solicited another training with Dr. Papawadee Tanodomdej from Chulalongkorn University (CU). Ms. Tanodomdej is specialized in Public International Law and coach for Chulalongkorn’s team for the Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition and the Philips C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition. From 12th to 14th of October, our third Moot Court Training for lecturers took place at the FLP in Vientiane.
The main objectives of this training were to build an understanding of IHL (International Humanitarian Law) and ICL (International Criminal Law) legal issues and pleading skills to prepare the lecturers in moot court coaching. The 3-day training was run in Thai language and attended by five lecturers as well as students who were potential mooters for the upcoming Lao national competition.
Morning sessions were primarily dedicated to lectures, whereas afternoon sessions included group activities and discussions. Participants were provided with the moot problem both in English and Thai language, presentation slides prepared by Dr. Tanodomdej and relevant international instruments.
The first day of the training was dedicated to introducing mooting and dealing with core IHL principles. In the afternoon, Dr. Tanodomdej introduced the participants to environmental protection during armed conflict. In addition, Dr. Tanodomdej provided the lecturers with a group exercise, dividing the participants into two groups to identify whether the Vietnam war and Gulf war could be considered as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the ICC Statute.
The second day of the training was dedicated to the analysis of the moot problem and search of reliable legal resources. Ms. Tanodomdej also briefed the participants on the methodology required to write the memorials for the ICRC/Red Cross IHL Moot Court Competition for Asia-Pacific region (IHL Moot). Information is available in English at: https://www.redcross.org.hk/en/moot20/index.html. In the afternoon, lecturers were divided into two groups to discuss “the war crime of excessive incidental death, injury, or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment” – article 8(2)(b)(iv). Dr. Tanodomdej also shared the best memorials from last year’s team and tips on how to make a good pleading. The participants were then split into two groups as Prosecution and Defense teams and had to prepare for the pleading next day.
On the last day, lecturers and students had the opportunity to practice actual pleading, while some were acting as judges allowing them to comment each other’s pleadings. Dr. Tanodomdej provided tips and suggestions to help the lecturers instruct the mooters in the future.
This practical aspect of the training helped the participants to gain an in-depth understanding of how moot court pleadings work!
We hope in the future to keep working with Chulalongkorn University and Thai colleagues on joint Moot court activities.
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Useful resources in Thai and English can be found online such as :
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl
For Thai language at:
https://blogs.icrc.org/th/wp-content/uploads/sites/104/2021/12/Additional-Protocols-THAI_web-version.pdf