TuksLaw Moot Society team members Tinotenda Kakora and Thomas White, coached by Thandeka Khoza and assisted by the Centre for Child Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, recently participated in the 2nd International Children's Rights Moot Court Competition hosted at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The TuksLaw team excelled and walked away with the silver medal. Twelve international teams took part in competition, which was won by the team from the University of Antwerp.

The participating teams pleaded a fictitious case, Noorzai and Nuratdin vs Bruscium, based on a dispute between a state and refugee children, brought before the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The teams had to defend the two parties, namely the Applicant (a child) and the Respondent (the state), in writing (heads of argument) and in oral arguments.

Proud coach Tandeka Khoza reports as follows on her team's participation and achievement:  'Our first two rounds went well. On the second day we faced one of the toughest teams – from a university in India. We did not receive scores or results at the end of the rounds. However, at the end of the second day, the top five teams were announced, as well as the two teams that were going through to the finals, i.e. the University of Pretoria and the University of Antwerp.  We were ranked first in the preliminary rounds and memorials (each of which counted 50%) and the University of Antwerp, Belgium was second. They chose to represent the Respondent in the final round.

'We competed as the Applicant in the final that was held at the Leiden Children’s Home. Competing in the final also meant that we were afforded an opportunity to present before, among others, a judge of the International Criminal Court. The judges were of a high calibre and they asked some tough questions. The Respondent team members were poised, confident and calm. Although we did not win the final, the team learned a lot and had a great experience at the competition. I would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Faculty of Law and all those who contributed to team's achievement.' 

Visit the Facebook page of the Grotius Centre at Leiden University for more images.