Sierra Leone, National Moot Competition on Humanitarian Law

Greetings from Sierra Leone! I am currently working with the Centre for Safe Motherhood, Youth, and Child Outreach (CESMYCO), a local NGO which addresses the rights of women and children, with a special focus on harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation (FGM). At first the work was slow, due to my supervisor's travel to operational areas, power shortages, and sorting out confusion over what exactly I would be doing. Things have since fallen into place and the remainder of my time should be busy, but productive. I leave tomorrow morning for Kambia District, where I'll be conducting interviews on customary law's treatment of women and children.
My philosophy while traveling has always been to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise, and never stick too strictly to a set plan. This is how I came to find myself sitting on the judge's bench of the Special Court for Sierra Leone on Friday afternoon, presiding over a "trial". Through a colleague, I had the opportunity to get involved with the National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law. The competition, in its sixth year, offers students from local universities the opportunity to prosecute or defend alleged violations of IHL. Cosponsored by the Sierra Leone Red Cross and the Special Court, the winning team will advance to the Pan Africa finals in Tanzania.
Six teams competed-- only one containing law students-- working from fact patterns drawn loosely from scenarios in Afghanistan and Nigeria. On the first day, it became clear that the students had received little guidance on how to prepare and structure their arguments, although they had a decent grasp of the rules of IHL. We heard their cases, asked questions of both teams, and finally offered constructive feedback to improve their presentations. On the second day, we saw considerable improvement, both in the organization of their arguments and their confidence in answering our increasingly difficult questions. For these preliminary rounds, I served on a panel of four judges consisting of myself, a Canadian intern with the Special Court, a lawyer from Zain Mobile, and an army captain.
On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the Special Court, expecting to merely observe the final round. Instead the judges from the preliminary round were taken to the chambers of Justice Kamanda, president of the Special Court, where we spent an hour going through the fact pattern and discussing our opinions on the violations and potential arguments. We then proceeded to one of the courtrooms, where we presided over the competition.
Unfortunately, the quality of the final round was a disappointment. Much of the progress of the day before had been lost, and the students struggled to present their cases and to answer our questions. However, the opportunity to sit within the Court-- even for a simulation-- was incredible. At the reception following, I had the opportunity to speak with many of the students, with the representatives of the Red Cross, and with Justice Kamanda. While all of the teams have a long way to go in arguing a case, I was impressed with the students' passion for the principles of humanitarian law. For the remainder of my time in Sierra Leone, I have volunteered to help with occasional trainings to prepare the winning team to compete in Tanzania in November. While it isn't the project I came to do, I am looking forward to seeing the team progress over the next two months and will be wishing them the best when they reach Arusha.