AFRICA MOOT COURT

COMPETITION CONCEPT NOTE

THEME: INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN

LAW

The 1st Edition Organised by Firdaous

Integrated Services (FIS)

VENUE: VIRTUAL

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 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

ABDULKAREEM AEEZ SWALEH HEMED WENGO AKINWUMI JOHN AYOBAMI

FIS President & Director of Studies Vice President & Director of Operations & Logistics Director of Administrative Affairs

FOLUKE M. AJIBOYE-DARE ADEKE MARY JOY PATRICK MUEMA MUMO

Director of Finance & Mobilisation Media Manager Regional Coordinator Rwanda, Kenya & Tanzania

MARVELLOUS CHITINDI NDAGIRE COMFORT VANESSA

Country Coordinator, Zambia Country Coordinator, Uganda

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INTRODUCTION
For a decade after the end of the Cold War, the world experienced a dramatic decline in the
incidence and deadliness of armed conflict with particular reference to Africa. Considering the
population size and jurisdiction/location, Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East carry the
largest conflict burden. Most of the violence occurs within and not between countries. Seven
relationships explained the relatively high levels of internal armed conflict in Africa. Starting
with poverty, Internal armed violence is more frequent in poorer than in wealthier countries.
More than 1/3 of Africa's population still lives in extreme poverty. Poverty is exacerbated by
inequality and inequality on the other hand fuels violence. Also, transitions from autocracy to
democracy or adverse regime changes are often prone to violence. A large democratic deficit
translates into the risk of instability. In the Arab Spring countries, citizens’ demand for
democracy was vast. Africa's population is young which is an added advantage. But if young
people lack opportunities, and rates of urbanization are high, the risk of conflict increases. Once
the country has experienced large scale violence, the tendency towards repeat violence is strong.
Being located in a conflict-ridden neighbourhood increases the risk of experiencing instability,
rising global inequality and transnational terrorism. Add to the internal and regional drivers of
conflict in Africa. Looking at the longer term, we also expect resource competition at a local
level to trigger violence. Since 2010, violence in Africa has been on the rise. Contemporary
African conflicts are increasingly fragmented, fought on a smaller scale and on the peripheries of
states. More non-state actors are involved, and insurgents are often divided. The spread of
transnational organized crime, including terrorism, is often linked with local politics and criminal
dynamics. Low-Intensity conflict is becoming more prevalent. And since 2011, there has been a
rise in social conflict, especially anti-government violence, violence related to elections has also
increased. Strong democracies are generally associated with greater peace. But monetization can
trigger violence in the short and medium-term. Violence at a community level increased. People
compete over scarce livelihood resources such as land and water, the impact of climate change
will aggravate this trend. Most conflicts include elements of support from neighbouring
countries, as borders are not controlled, and rural areas are not policed. It is against this
background that Firdaous Integrated Services Ltd decided to play a role in trying to impart
knowledge to the young legal minds on the law of armed conflict with specific reference to
Africa.

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 CONCEPT NOTE

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Standard of the Moot

• Providing educational opportunities for the students;

• Ensuring clear communication with all constituencies;
• Ensuring transparency;
• Preserving fairness and accuracy;
• Striving for comparable experiences across platforms in an uncertain time.
• Addressing African challenges via an intellectual platform for Africans and by Africans

The theme of the Moot Court

International Humanitarian Law: Since one of the thematic areas of FIS is conflict resolution, the theme of
the moot should address conflict in Africa. The proposal is to have the African Court of Justice and Human
Rights as the court for the theme of the moot court.

Areas to be addressed

• Rules
• Administration of the Competition itself
• Providing Guidance to Competitors
• Providing Guidance to Judges

Hosting the moot

The proposal is to host the moot court in partnership with one African University. This will enable us to
have easy access to different institutions that would want to participate and the contacts to them.

Number of teams

Since this is the premiere edition, we propose that the number of teams should be limited to a maximum of
20 teams across different countries in Africa.

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Language of the Moot

The moot should be conducted in the English Language.

Hosting platform

The moot court should be virtual, hosted through zoom. Our zoom platform has all the requirements to
host the moot.

Rules

Registration: Since this is the first edition of the moot Court Competition, the registration will be free.
Registration will be done via our website. A registration form will be created to allow teams to
register.

Eligibility: Undergraduate students from African law schools are eligible to participate in the moot
court competition.

Team: A team should comprise of not more than 2 participants (preferably male and female).

Memorials: As far as the memorial submission is concerned, this can be done via our website. We
will create a submission form that will allow the registered teams to upload their memorials.
Alternatively, we will have an option of submission via email.

Oral Arguments: Each team should argue its case twice in the preliminary rounds. Once as
prosecution and once as a defence. The top 8 teams will proceed to the quarter-finals which will be the
knock out stage. The 4 teams that win their quarter-finals will proceed to the semi-finals and the two
teams that win their semi-finals round will proceed to finals.

Anonymity: Each team will be assigned a code number to identify them. No team should be known
based on their university to the judges or during the competition.

Time: Each team will be allocated the exact amount of time and no team will be disadvantaged.

Scoring & deliberations: Judges will be required to undergo a session for the purpose of scoring and
deliberations.

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Tentative Timetable

No. Schedule Dates

1. Opening of Registration 1st February 2022

2. Release of the Moot Problem 10th February 2022

3. Deadline for request of Clarifications 01st March 2022

4 Publication of Clarifications 08th March 2022

5. Closing of Registration 15th March 2022

6. Submission of Memorials 10th April 2022

7. Announcement of the 20 qualifying teams 08th May 2022

8. Oral Rounds 6th June – 19th June 2022

9. 3rd Africa Youth Peace Summit 19th June 2022

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