20 September 2024 marked an exciting opening to the 23rd Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition. The Inaugural Ceremony of the Moot Court Competition was opened through a Welcome Address by Amb. Narinder Singh, Secretary General, Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) and Inaugural Address by Mr. Kedir Awol Omar, Head of ICRC New Delhi Regional Delegation, followed by a thought-provoking Special Address by Hon’ble Justice Madan B. Lokur and Inaugural Lecture by Hon’ble Justice S. Muralidhar. It was a great honour for students and all to listen to and reflect on remarks and observations made by these dignitaries.
The national rounds of the Moot Court Competition at the ISIL campus in New Delhi saw 16 of the 59 registered teams participate in the oral rounds during the event, with University of Petroleum and Energy Studies School of Law emerging as the winner.
The bench for the final round consisted of important dignitaries, including Justice Madan B. Lokur, a former judge from the Supreme Court of India and an acting judge from the Supreme Court of Fiji, Dr. Luther Rangreji, Jt. Secty. (L&T), Ministry of External Affairs, and Professor B. T. Kaul, a professor-in-charge of the Faculty of Law at Delhi University and chairperson of the Delhi Judicial Academy.
The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies School of Law, Dehradun, emerged as the winners and were visibly excited about the next step, the Asia Pacific rounds in Hong Kong, while National Law University Jodhpur, was a close second. Ms. Stuti Pandey, Mr. Pratham Singh Rajput and Mr. Ananya Gulkhandia made up the winning team. The runners-up, National Law University Jodhpur, team consisted of Mr. Krishna Ravishankar, Ms. Krishangee Parikh and Mr. Anirudh S Krishnan. The best speaker award went to Ms. Stuti Pandey, University of Petroleum and Energy Sciences (UPES), Dehradun and Mr. Ashwad Dhinakaran were adjudged the Best Advocate jointly, the best researcher award went to Mr. Shoubhit Daftuar, Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai, Mr. Siddharth Samanta, O.P Jindal Global University, Sonipat and Ms. Priya Kumari, Bennett University, Greater Noida won the Best Researcher Award. National Law University, Jodhpur and Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai won the Best Memorial Award.
The Henry Dunant Moot Court Competition is organized annually by the ICRC in partnership with ISIL for law students and aims to stimulate their engagement with relevant and contemporary issues in IHL. As participants are required to examine, formulate and present arguments from both sides throughout the competition – starting right from the preliminary rounds, up to final rounds, depth of substantive engagement is encouraged and finesse is nurtured, with the guidance and feedback of judges who are experienced professionals and senior academics in the field of IL and IHL
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On the sidelines of the competition, the delegation organized a curated photo exhibition themed on the Geneva Conventions at 75 in commemoration of 75 years of the one set of International Humanitarian Laws that we all agree upon and our common humanity.