The Migration Law Research Group (MigrLaw) from Ghent University had the pleasure of organizing the 2022 International Migration and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition. After winning its first edition, organized by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2019, MigrLaw was happy to host the next edition of the moot court competition in Ghent and welcome 12 teams from different corners of the world to our faculty.

The moot court competition consisted of a written round and a two-day oral round. Each team pleaded a fictitious case between a State and a migrant before a judicial body. A particular and challenging characteristic of this Moot Court Competition was that the case developed throughout the competition. Namely, the semi-finalists were given a new element to the case and the finalist even an entire new case. Great importance was given to the students’ learning experience:  collective as well as individual feedback sessions between the teams and the judges were organized.

Judges, in the oral rounds, were experts in the field of asylum and migration law, thanks to a collaboration with the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges. In between the pleading rounds, participants had the opportunity to attend a career’s training by the international law firm Fragomen, to enjoy a cup of delicious coffee from “Komaf Koffie” and to enjoy the music of Ehsan Yadollahi.

This year’s case considered the refugee status determination of a Syrian national. In the final round, return was the central theme of the case.

The winner of the competition was the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and the runner-up City Law School (University of London, UK). Awards were further granted to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (Chicago, USA) for the best written pleading on behalf of the applicant, and City Law School (University of London, UK), for the best written pleading on behalf of the respondent. The price for best pleader went to Ciara Mary Pamela Coleman from the City Law School (London, UK).

Further information, including the fictitious case, can be found here.