OUR GOALS
We aim to enrich academic programmes, competence and capacity of individuals in the field of law. By doing so, we seek to strengthen the Rule of law and justice institutions in Lao PDR.
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LATEST NEWS
Project supported by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action
ຂ່າວສານ
On the 10th of December 2020, the Lao National round of the ICRC International Humanitarian Law Moot Court competition took place at the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP) with the assistance of the University of Luxembourg.
This year, the competition went on in a hybrid format. The judges were assessing the mooters through Zoom while the mooting teams were gathered and pleaded face-to-face at the FLP.
The fictitious case that the teams were pleading was set before the International Criminal Court. Four teams of two mooters competed against each other representing in turn the Defence and the Prosecution. Judges for this year’s national round of the competition included Mr. Sippakorn Chongchuwanich (ICRC Legal Advisor), Ms. Sophia Cason from The Asia Foundation (Chief of Party, Laos Legal Aid Support Program) and Violette Juncker (Junior Technical Advisor for LuxDev LAO/031).
Prior to the competition, the teams had received a week-long online training in November supported by the University of Luxembourg with Dr. Perrine Simon and Dr. Lawrence Siry.
Congratulations to all teams, especially the winning team Mr. Pathanaphone Nammalath and Mr. Silaphet Saenbouttaraj. The team will participate in the International Round of the competition on behalf of Laos in 2022!
ຂ່າວສານ
Under the framework of the Inter-University Cooperation Project, the development of the library is given priority along with the establishment of e-library.
On the 9th of December, a handover ceremony of law books was organised at the Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP). The ceremony was attended by Assoc. Prof. Viengvilay Thiengchanxay, the Dean of the FLP, Dr. Somdeth Keovongsak, Vice Dean, Dr. Perrine Simon, the Project’s Liaison Officer, along with other FLP lecturers. The Project handed over 391 printed textbooks, in Thai and English, to the FLP, National University of Laos. Along with these books, the University of Luxembourg will also support a one-month capacity building training for FLP librarians in collaboration with Thai librarians as soon as the covid-19 restrictions will be lifted.
The purchase and delivery of books, as well as the capacity training, were arranged under an agreement between UNI.lu and EIFL-Thailand, a commercial establishment of distribution of educational books and journals. This acquisition and delivery of textbooks and training was fully supported financially by the University of Luxembourg.
Together with the establishment of the e-library, this acquisition of books will provide the FLP library with a comprehensive collection of books in the field of law. This marks a significant step in improving access to legal knowledge and strengthening legal higher education of both students and teachers.
ຂ່າວສານ
The University of Luxembourg is actively supporting problem-based learning (PBL) through moot court training. The Inter-University Cooperation Project Laos-Luxembourg has provided for the first time this year training support for Lao law lecturers online.
From the 16th of November to the 1st of December, the Project has organised capacity building activity with around 15 lecturers from the FLP of NUOL and Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Champasak. The training was organised online and was led by Dr. Papawadee Tanodomdej from Chulalongkorn University (CU). Dr. Papawadee is a lecturer of Public international law, the coach for Chula’s team in the Philips C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition 2021 and is also actively involved in the Thailand IHL Moot Court Competition organised by the ICRC.
The main objective of this activity was to introduce Lao lecturers to the IHL Moot and to train them into moot court coaching. The training was run in Thai language and covered the basics of moot court competition, public international law and international humanitarian law. During the training, participants also had an opportunity to work in teams in break-out rooms and evening homework to prepare legal arguments. This practical aspect of the training helped participants to understand more in-depth how moot court works. Dr. Papawadee also shared her experience as a coach in Thailand and how they have set-up an IHL Moot Court in Thai language, which led to increase the number of universities competing and teams.
Over the past five years, the coaching of Lao team for the Asia-Pacific IHL Moot Court Competition has been supported by the Liaison Officer of the Project. We aim for the next years to involve Lao lecturers in the coaching of students more!
ຂ່າວສານ
Under the framework of the Inter-University Project Laos-Luxembourg, the University of Luxembourg has been supporting students’ training in the ICRC IHL Moot Court Competition since 2016.
This year, because of the COVID-19 restrictions in place, the intensive Moot training was organised online via Zoom from the 22nd through 26th of November. Dr. Lawrence Siry, who has been involved in the moot training for the past three years, gave a one-week intensive training with a group of 10-12 FLP students. This is to prepare the students for the Lao National Round of ICRC IHL Moot competing on the 10th of December. The training focused on teaching students how to do a convincing pleading and critically present arguments. Students also learned more deeply about International humanitarian law and International criminal law, as well as its application to the Moot problem of this year.
Moot court competitions as an extra-curricular activity not only encourage “problem-based learning” but also promote practice-relevant teaching. By participating in moot court, students get to develop legal and debating skills along with their English skills!
ຂ່າວສານ
The University of Luxembourg keeps supporting legal research in Laos. A three-day workshop was co-hosted online by the University of Luxembourg Inter-University Cooperation Project Laos-Luxembourg and Luxembourg Development’s Project LAO/031 dedicated to legal research methodology on 28th-29th October and 1st November 2021. The event took place via Zoom and was chaired by Dr Somdeth Keovongsack, Vice Dean of the FLP. The workshop brought together 95 Lao lecturers from the FLP (National University of Laos), the Faculty of Law and Administration (FLA-Champassak University) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).
The workshop focused on the methodology applicable to scientific research in the field of law, in particular on what is legal research, what are the sources used in this discipline and on different types of legal research existing (doctrinal or more inter-disciplinary). It also covered more general aspects such as plagiarism, or how to structure a law paper including advice on how to write an introduction, etc. The workshop was the first presentation of the draft “Guidelines on Academic Legal Research Methodology” that have been prepared with the support of Dr. Perrine Simon, the Liaison Officer of the University of Luxembourg. Presentations were led by the “team” involved in the drafting of these guidelines including Dr. Perrine Simon, Dr. Latdavanh Donkeodavong, Dr. Boualaphiane Sisouk, Dr. Sypha Chanthavong, and Pangthong Xayyavong.
The guidelines are expected to be finalised for dissemination at the beginning of the 2nd semester of this academic year (2022), in both an English and a Lao version. They could lead the way for Lao legal research and also be relevant for other institution such as the FLA and NIJ. Participants highlighted during the workshop the need to have a “manual” to help them and to have a less fragmented approach to legal research in Laos.
On the third day of the Workshop, participants were divided into groups to do an exercise led by Dr. Lone Lindholt (Chief Technical Advisor of Project Lao/031). In breakout rooms, participants worked together and listed the challenges they are facing in conducting legal research. They highlighted a number of contextual, institutional and individual challenges, such as access to sources (in particular courts’ decisions), access to funding, lack of research opportunities, overwhelming admin duties, etc. They also suggested a number of concrete solutions for the future, including the creation of a Lao platform to disseminate legal research outputs in Lao language.
During the workshop, participants had an open-minded approach and actively engaged in constructive discussions. Many questions were raised regarding legal research and methodology, academic integrity and plagiarism as well as how these may apply in the context of Lao academia.
This was a very fruitful and unique workshop as it was gathering the whole (future) “Lao research community” – FLP, FLA and NIJ – and emphasised the need for further collaboration in order to encourage quality legal research.
Lastly, at the end of the workshop, participants were encouraged to submit their applications for the 3rd Annual Research Forum which will take place on 15th of December (deadline extended to 15th of November).
ຂ່າວສານ
In cooperation with the Faculty of Law and Political Science, NUOL and the ICRC, an online lecture on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was organised on the 6th of November via Zoom with the support of the University of Luxembourg. Nearly 90 participants attended the lecture, including students and lecturers from the FLP.
The lecture was given by Mr. Sippakorn Chongchuwanich, Legal Advisor from the ICRC Bangkok. During the lecture, participants learned about the fundamentals of IHL as well engaged in creative discussion regarding the law and its application.
The lecture was not only to introduce students to IHL, but also to officially announce the start of the Lao national round of the ICRC IHL Moot Court Competition. The Competition is co-organised annually by the Hong Kong Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In the competition, teams of two mooters will participate in a simulation of the proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including the drafting of memorials and pleading (oral argument).
The University of Luxembourg supports problem-based learning and this IHL moot court is a very useful activity for students in the field of law to learn through problem solving. It is also a great opportunity to develop oral skills including debating skills, English speaking and to improve their legal skills in a practical and fun way!
The Lao National Round of the ICRC IHL competition is set to take place online on the 10th of December 2021. Please sign up here. The moot problem can be accessed the links below.