Moot court team from the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, a representative team from Thailand has won the first runner-up in the Asia-Pacific International Humanitarian Law Moot 2020. They are the first team from Thailand to receive a prize at this competition. The team received a trophy, a certificate, and the US$1,000 cash prize.
Ms.Ravleen Sachdej, Ms.Supitchaya Poonlarp, and Ms.Proudrawee Manchusree, first-year students of the Faculty of Law, International LL.B. Program in Business Law were the representative team from Thailand in the competition, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The competition was held from July 18 – August 27, 2020, and the team competed against 23 other teams from 20 countries.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, the organizing committee had decided to host the competition online. In the preliminary round (July 5 – August 10, 2020) the team was required to submit 8,000 word-long memorials about three international humanitarian law charges. The team had discussed the memorials and strategies online and were guided by Ms.Thitirat Thipsamritkul, a teacher at the faculty, and the team advisor.
The team had been preparing long before this year moot problem was released with help from the advisor, previous mooters, and members of the Thammasat International Moot Society.
In the advanced round, the team was asked to compete against the team from India by writing a 1,000-word response to the competitor’s argument within 48 hours.
Ms.Ravleen Sachdej, a member of the winning team, shares, “When we decided to join the competition, we just wanted to gain new experiences and knowledge. We had never thought that we would win or anything. Besides the prize and the experiences, the competition also gave us a chance to learn new things from the perspective of our seniors and lecturers. We feel like this competition turned us into a better version of ourselves. Also, we really wanted to express our appreciation to our teacher and advisor, Ms. Ms.Thitirat Thipsamritkul, and our seniors for helping us along the way.”
Another team member, Ms.Supitchaya Poonlarp says, “We had been in the faculty for only one week when we decided to participate in the competition. We thought that we might not have what it takes to compete in the competition, let alone winning. However, with the support from our families, teachers, seniors, friends in the faculty, and most importantly my team members, we have the confidence to research and work on the challenge and ended up being the representative for Thailand this year.”
Ms.Proudrawee Manchusree, who was also part of the team, adds, “For me, I almost didn’t get a chance to be in the competition. I was lucky that my friends asked me to be a part of their team. No one in the team thought that we would get this far in the competition since we were freshmen and still have a lot to learn about law or the moot court competition. It is because of the help and support of our teachers, seniors, and friends.”
“This has been more than a competition; it is a journey that we take and the friendship we created along the way,” she concludes.