B3 Hitomi SUZUKI
This year, I participated in the 13th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition during the spring vacation.
Firstly, I’ll introduce the competition. The competition has started in 2009 year, giving all master or undergraduate students in the world joining qualification and selecting the 50 teams which can go to the preliminary oral round. Until 2019’s competition, a preliminary oral round was held at the UN headquarters in Geneve; however, it may be held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Participants make the team of two students and the memorials of both of Applicant and Respondent.
I and my senior person, named Reona Fukuhara, started preparing for this competition since the hypothetical human rights case had been opened. There are three arguments of Applicant in this hypothetical case, Count1 is about recalling 43 members of Diet, Count2 is about deleting tweets and stopping Twitter’s account, and Count3 is about lockdown measures made by the government. The Applicant is Papa Tommy Tomato, politician and leader of Tomato Faith Ministers. He recalled 43 members of Diet argue that the government of Rhakatah violates human rights relating to Count 1 to 3.
Human rights are diverse, so issues are not only one. For example, our argument about Count2 states freedom of expression, status and huge effect of a politician, illegality of emoji, Fake News, and disinformation.
It is my first moot court experience. It was so hard, but I could learn various aspects of violating human rights and protecting them. Particularly about Count2 and 3, they are ongoing topics, so although on the international law level, arguments relating to them continue. Because of it, we felt difficult to find law, restriction but it was interesting. In addition, characters and states in the hypothetical case are so realistic that they could image similar persons or states. Therefore, we can think about this hypothetical case, which happens in the actual world.
Unfortunately, we could not go to the Preliminary oral rounds. However, thanks to Prof. Fujii, we will be able to get an opportunity of oral moot court competition at Utsunomiya University. In September this year, we will hold the Nelson Mandela Moot Court Competition Utsunomiya ver. Members of Fujii’s seminar were divided into Applicant or Respondent, and these teams were made from three members. I take charge of Count2 of Respondent. It was regretful not to go to Geneve. Still, I would like to use this excellent experience for the next International Humanitarian Law(IHL) moot court.