daniel chigunwe
Herald Reporters
THREE Zimbabwean law students left the country on Monday for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Belgium for an international moot competition.
Nyasha Chiramba from Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University together with Chiedza Banda and Lincoln Majogo from the University of Zimbabwe were selected to take part in the international migration and refugee law moot court competition being held in the two countries. The competition will use the shuffling system where winners will be placed in rainbow teams consisting of students from other countries until the final round.
ZEGU Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Evelyn Garwe said the competitions are of great merit to the university which is currently the only private university offering the law degree in Zimbabwe.
“To be represented by its product and in the leadership position in this case becomes a great inspiration that a university that has been originated by a local black missionary Professor Ezekiel Guti, takes lead in international issues,” she said.
“Such footprints lead to a more innovative Zimbabwe, evident in the products that comes out of institutions of higher education.”
Prof Garwe said the competition seeks to bring students interested in International migration and asylum law from around the world. This gives them a chance to sharpen their analytical, drafting and pleading skills as well as to broaden their network with colleagues from other universities and judges who are experts in the field, she said.
The competition consists of a written first round and then a two-day oral second round where a fictitious case is presented.
“The participant ought to represent the client and the state at the same time. As the case develops new elements will be introduced and an entirely new migration law topic will be prepared and presented,” said Prof Garwe.
“The challenging characteristic of International Migration and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition is that the case develops throughout the competition.
“It makes Zimbabwe proud to be participating in such a competition, which places its students among the world’s think tanks.”
One of the participants, Majogo, said in an interview from Netherlands that it was inspiring for their growing law career to be participating at such a global platform.
“ This is an experimental moot court competition. A moot court competition is like real life arguments in court but being done by students. So students get a hypothetical case and they are allocated sides either as prosecution or defence and they will then make arguments before a panel,” he said.
Online Reporter