Uganda Christian University will represent Uganda at the all-Africa International Humanitarian Law moot court competition after winning the national competition in Kampala.
During the final round of the competition held at Hotel Africana and co-hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Uganda Red Cross Society, the Mukono-based university beat Cavendish University to the gong.
The final round was chaired by Justice Susan Okalany of the International Crimes Division of the High Court.
She called for concerted efforts to ensure International criminal law gets well-grounded in Uganda, contrary to what is happening now.
“Many people go to university and do not do anything to do with international law. I would like to ask universities to take seriously the issue of training and teaching lawyers, international criminal law so that we have rounded advocates for international criminal law,” Justice Okalany said.
She also made a case for universities teaching the law on sexual gender-based violence and juvenile justice which she said are the offences which make the biggest burden of the cases affecting society in Uganda.
“The biggest number of victims of crimes in Uganda are children and the major crime they are usually attacked with is sexual violence. I hope these universities are not only participating in this moot competition to win but to go ahead and practice the law. May be some of you will be prosecutors and we shall start seeing charges changing from terrorism to war crimes, from terrorism to crimes against humanity. Terrorism charges are lawful under the law but the victim of terrorism looks like the state but the victims of cases against humanity or war crimes or genocide are actually the true victims,” Justice Okalany urged.
“It is better to charge one with a charge that reflects the truth about who the victims are. If you are charging one with terrorism, and then the whole community thinks there is no terrorism but politics, the charge would have made sense if it was war crime.”
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross regional delegation to Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, Kedir Awol Omar said the moot competition is aimed at ensuring students and the community at large appreciate the role of international humanitarian law.
“This competition speaks to our daily work as a humanitarian organization and the knowledge the students have acquired through participation in this competition will later help them in being advocates for the formation of international humanitarian law in Uganda and across the Great Lakes Region,” Omar said.
He said the simulation of international humanitarian law might have seemed tough for the university students; it was aimed at ensuring they gain experience in handling such cases.
“This application of the law to the battlefield and protection of the affected population is not always straight forward but that is what the world needs more of and we are delighted to have university students become the voice of law.”
Omar said university students who participated in the competition should become the next generation of leaders and advocates to influence various legal capacities to promote the well-being of all.
