Haramaya University College of Law participated in the 24th African Human Rights Moot Court competition which took place from October 05- 10, 2015 in Lusaka, Zambia.
Mooters from Haramaya University College of Law, namely Girma Gadisa and Mekdes Sebhat (fifth year students), have participated in the competition, representing Haramaya University. According to Bacha Daba, coach and college representative in the competition, with the 77 average points, the HU team’s memorial ranked 14th out of 61 universities which participated in the competition.
Opening ceremony- HU representative with cultural cloth
In the competition, participants or mooters were required to prepare and submit memorials for the applicant and respondent, each 4ooo words and to make oral arguments at least for four times, twice as applicant and twice as respondent. Accordingly, our representative have submitted their memorials and also made oral arguments, four times against the opponent teams, and got very impressive scores, according to the information obtained from the representative.
For the memorials, out of 100 maximum points, they scored 80 for the applicant memorial and 74 for the respondent memorial, the average being 77. The average score for the oral argument is 72 out of 100. The best memorial in this competition scored 84, Bacha indicated.
HU COL representative- as a judge- Bacha Daba
“Our student’s memorial work, having 77 average score, was praised by the organizers and was among the best memorials in the competition. On oral submissions, our team were ranked 18th out of 51 universities participated under Anglophone group, a highly competitive group in the competition compared to Francophone and Lusophone groups,” Bacha said.
Bacha added that the studentswere appreciated by the organizers for the depth of their substantive knowledge and advocacy skills.
“I believe that this result is inspiring for our students and also contributed a lot in building the reputation of the College in particular and the University in general,” he said.
Bacha thanked Haramaya University administration and colleagues from the College of Law for the assistances and advices he and his team received during the preparation and in the due course of the competition.
“Your contribution was vital for the results achieved. I am confident that, with this trend, we can produce highly competent students both at national and international level. The best is yet to come,” added.
Apart from the moot court competition, the team has also participated in a one day conference conducted in Lusaka as part of the event under the topic “Child, Not Wife”. Several researchers have presented their research works on child marriage and its negative impacts in the enjoyment of fundamental human rights and freedoms on children. Participants also visited several historical places in and around Lusaka including the residence of the first President of Zambia, President Kenneth Kaunda, and were briefed about the works done by Kaunda in liberating Zambia from British colonial rule. President Kaunda, though he is now quite old, has managed to come to the forum and met all the participants in person on the final day of the competition.
