Press releases

MINSK, 31 January (BelTA) – A team of students of the Law Department at the Belarusian State University (BSU) will represent Belarus at the final round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington. The results of the Jessup Cup national round in Minsk were announced on 29 January, BelTA has learned.

The team of the Law Department beat the team of the BSU Department of International Relations to win the right to travel to Washington in April.

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Each team must prepare to argue both the Applicant and Respondent sides in the case, and must produce a written memorial, which is usually a 30-page document, for each side of the case. The competition is held in English. This year’s themes include environmental refugees, the use of shared natural resources and the repatriation of cultural values.

The competition has been steadily gaining popularity in Belarus. Attention to the competition in Belarus has increased once Belarusians have started to excel. In 2014 International University MITSO placed fifth in the written part of the competition, ahead of Oxford, Stanford, the University of Sydney and more than 600 other universities. In 2015 Belarusian students repeated the success. And in 2016 the faculty of international relations of Belarusian State University (BSU FIR) finished second in the written part losing only to the University of Jerusalem.

BILA Association became a National Administrator of Jessup Cup Belarusian National Rounds in 2016.The Belarusian administrator managed to revive the competition, to expand the number of participants in the national rounds, to field two teams from Belarus in the final instead of one, and to represent Belarus in Washington at the highest level. In 2016 BILA team was awarded the prestigious S.Schneebaum Award for being Outstanding National Administrator.

Every year the largest and most well-known competition draws around 600 teams from more than 80 countries. The competition is held since 1960 by the International Law Students Association. Final rounds are held in Washington, the United States.

The competition is supported by leading law firms and experts.