Students of HSE Nizhny Novgorod Took Part in F. F. Martens International Humanitarian Law Competition
The F. F. Martens International Humanitarian Law Competition has been held by the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Russia, Belarus and Moldova several times. This year, HSE students from Nizhny Novgorod took part in the competition for the first time and came away with some great results.
This year 18 student teams from 7 countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Turkmenistan – participated in the event. Leading experts in international humanitarian law from Armenia, UK, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Estonia worked as the jury.
The organisers focused on raising awareness among young people about the activity of the International Red Cross, integrating students into a professional volunteer network, involving them in the processes of conflict resolution and peacemaking in a post-conflict world.
The team from the Faculty of Law (HSE Nizhny Novgorod) included 4th-year students Anastasia Sudar, Elena Khaldeeva and Anastasia Osharina. These participants demonstrated an excellent knowledge of international humanitarian law.
The oral round was held in Moscow region: the participants not only reviewed and discussed a specific conflict situation, but also played the roles they had to demonstrate during the competition. The HSE team members had to be not only legal experts, but also diplomats, aid workers and educators in a situation involving a mass cyber attack, the use of weapons with indiscriminate effect, combat drones, abandoned villages, refugee camps, children who had lost their parents in war, and an attack on an aid convoy.
The jury and organizers were extremely impressed with the presentation by the HSE team. Anastasia Sudar received a special award for her leadership skills. The HSE team was led and trained by Elizaveta Shushunova, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theory and History of Law and State.
‘It is an incredible joy for a coach and teacher to see the happy faces of their students, listen to their enthusiastic stories and even to worry and share doubts with them. Year after year I try to inspire my students to think about the value of human life, freedom, and equality. We learn to help people by using legal and diplomatic tools. We learn to think and react immediately in emergency situations, to speak masterfully, and, perhaps most importantly, to become part of a team of professionals. These students definitely passed the test and HSE Faculty of Law in Nizhny Novgorod can be proud of them. I'm glad that despite a busy schedule and high competition standards, they worked with me in one team and were immersed in another world for a while’, says Elizaveta Shushunova.