This year’s competition involved 11 teams representing Queen’s University Belfast, University College Cork, the University of Galway, Maynooth University, University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, the Law Society of Ireland and the University of Limerick.

The competition involved a series of role-playing scenarios which challenged students’ understanding of the principles of international humanitarian law and the role of different actors in armed conflicts. 

Students had to take on different roles, including as legal advisors to military forces or to a weapons manufacturing company, as humanitarian workers and as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegates.

Each exercise tested their knowledge of specific areas of IHL, including protection of healthcare, the use of the Red Cross and/or Red Crescent emblem, protection of cultural property, humanitarian access, obligations under occupation, accessing detainees and prisoner of war, weapons regulations and much more. 

In the afternoon, teams engaged with a real-world negotiation process and acted as representatives of both states and civil society actors to negotiate a draft text regulating autonomous weapons systems. 

The judges were experts and practitioners in IHL including representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, the Irish Defence Forces, the British Red Cross, ICRC, Blue Shield Ireland, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Irish academics and others.

The Law Society team of Katie McCarthy, Sarah Scobie and Grace Oladipo, coached by Paul Breslin, ultimately walked away as the overall winners of the competition.

The University College Cork team of Nancy Elabbas, Evalina Schneider and Lya Nolan, coached by Dr Dug Cubie, were the runners-up.

A prize for most impressive performance in the scenario dealing with cultural property, which was sponsored by the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, was awarded to the Trinity College Dublin team of Brandon Moloney, Taylor Stryker and Kitty Reeves, coached by Mackenzie Ellwood and Dr Alan Eustace.

A spokesperson for the Irish Red Cross told Irish Legal News: “As a national society, the Irish Red Cross has a unique mandate to support the State in its obligation to disseminate IHL.

“This competition, which has been running since 2014, allows us to promote the rules of war amongst the next generation of lawyers and leaders.

“It is always inspiring to see so many law students take an interest in this area of law which is so critically needed given the occurrence of over 120 armed conflicts around the world today.

“A huge congratulations to the Law Society of Ireland who were the overall winners, University College Cork as runners up, and Trinity College Dublin on their prize for the best performance in the scenario on the protection of cultural property, kindly sponsored by the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government.”

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