About - Rode Kruis

The 6^th annual Frits Kalshoven Competition on International Humanitarian Law will take place from 25 February to 1 March 2013 in 'legal capital of the world' the Hague, the Netherlands. Through role plays and moot courts, the competition enables students to experience international humanitarian law (IHL) in practice.

Information and registration

Registration closes 16 November 2012. The Competition is open to teams from Dutch and Belgian universities and defence academies. To register, teams must consist of three students from the same institute. Each institute can be represented by only one team. The registration fee is 75 euros per person.

For more information see Rules and Registration or contact:

In the Netherlands: Marieke van den Berg and Maaike Labree, ihlcompetition@redcross.nl or +31 (0)70-4455831
In Belgium: Laura de Grève, humanitair.recht@rodekruis.be or +32 (0)15-443519

Programme

The public closing event with moot court finals is organised on the 1st of March.

In role-play exercises students need to apply the rules of IHL to a number of real-life situations. Examples of roles are: legal advisers of the armed forces or members of international organisations. During the moot court teams will be allocated the role of prosecutor and defence counsel and subsequently face a bench of experienced 'judges'. In previous years, members of the judging panel have included: judges of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross and legal advisors of the armed forces. Prior to the competition the students will attend lectures and workshops.

International humanitarian law aims to 'humanise' war by trying to mitigate the human suffering caused by war. To this extent a vast number of treaties and conventions have been drafted, of which the Geneva Conventions are the most well-known. Stimulated by a realistic approach, IHL is predicated on the subtle equilibrium between two diametrically opposed concepts: military necessity and humanitarian considerations.