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THE Herbert Chitepo Law School Moot Court Team at the Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) has qualified for the White & Case Advanced Rounds of the 2021 Edition of the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot.
This year, the Jessup Moot attracted 570 Law Schools from all over the world and of these only 168 Law Schools from 60 countries advanced to the White & Case Rounds of the competition.
In the Preliminary Rounds of Competition, GZU team comprising Mbalenhle Violet Mwase, Kundiso Charmaine Rusike, Charmaine Mbiri, Makomborero Carl Muropa, Nathan Zindikilani and Moot Coach, Mr Proceed Manatsa, competed against the University of World Economy, Pennsylvania State University, Saint Petersburg State University as well as University of Iceland and emerged triumphant.
From the Advanced Rounds of the competition, only 48 teams will advance to the Elimination Rounds of the Competition.
The GZU team completed its Advanced Rounds against Bhutan’s JSW School of Law, New Zealand’s Auckland University, China’s University of Hong Kong and United States’ American University.
The Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the oldest, largest and most prestigious moot court completion in the world.
It has been held since 1960 and it brings together law students from more than 700 law schools and more than 90 countries.
The competition is a model of hypothetical disputes between States/ countries before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations in civil matters.
The competition is open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students pursuing a law degree or a degree related to international law.
In the lead up to the Global Rounds of the Competition, law schools and universities compete in local/national/regional rounds with the winners going on to participate in the global rounds of the competition.
The topics of the Jessup Moot typically cover complex and current issues of international law. In light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its attendant travelling and gathering restrictions, this year’s edition of the Jessup Global Rounds was held virtually.
Interestingly, the theme of the 2021 Jessup Problem concerns a global pandemic (the J-VID pandemic), modelled along the factual circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The problem also concerns obligations and responses of States with respect to the outbreak of global pandemics, questions of the jurisdiction of the ICJ, reservations and their applicability in international law, a desperate claim for political/diplomatic asylum by an alleged rogue scientist, the right to life in international human rights law, as well as State responsibility for shooting down a suspicious aircraft.
In recent years, students at Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) have established a reputation of being among the most competitive in the country when it comes to these contests.
Since 2019, GZU students have been outshining their counterparts from other institutions of higher learning in the country, bringing home trophies.
In 2019 the GZU’s team took part in a debating competition to mark celebrations of the International Human Rights Day, during which Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating the 61st anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Early last year, students from the Great Zimbabwe University’s Herbert Chitepo Law School took part in the African Regional Rounds of the John Jackson Moot Court Competition.
The competition ran from April 20 to April 25, 2020 and was hosted virtually by the European Law Students’ Association in association with the World Trade Organisation.
The competition is named after American Professor John Howard Jackson, one of the instrumental figures in the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The annual competition brings together students from different parts of the world, who get to argue a simulated case on International Trade Law.
The Herbert Chitepo Law School was the only Zimbabwean university to participate in the competition.
The students performed exceptionally well and managed to reach the final round of the competition, where they eventually came runners-up.
The Herbert Chitepo Law School is currently the only faculty in the country, which offers International Trade Law as a fully taught module to its students. This exposes the students to a branch of law that is very critical to the development of the country’s economy.
In December 2020 GZU students from The Herbert Chitepo Law School Moot Team made up of Kundiso Charmaine Rusike, Makomborero Carl Muropa and Nathan Zindikilani, won the final round of the First Anti-Corruption Moot Court Competition.
The Inaugural Anti-Corruption & Human Rights Moot Court Competition was organised by Transparency International Zimbabwe and hosted by Great Zimbabwe University just before Christmas. Then, the GZU team was pitted against teams from Midlands State University, University of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Ezekiel Gutu University.