The team of Master’s lawyers of the Russian-Armenian University took the 2nd place in the prestigious F.F. Martens International Human Rights Competition. By the decision of RAU rector Armen Darbinyan, students will receive encouragement at their own university for their achievements. The competition organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross took place from October 3 to 6 in Moscow. 

 

Teams from Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan took part in F.F. Martens International Human Rights Competition. Sofia Harutyunyan, a II year Master student in International and European Law, takes pride in the achieved result, because among a large number of teams, it is RAU students who have managed to show a high level of knowledge.

 

“To achieve growth in any field, you need to do something that you have never done before. Guided by this principle, we took part in F.F. Martens Competition. This became a priority for me. The competition enabled our team to tell participants from different countries about violations of international humanitarian law in the Karabakh conflict zone and in the territory of the Republic of Armenia during the well-known events that occurred in the last two years. The stages that we went through were particularly memorable. It’s a really enriching experience. After each intense round we would joke with our team that it was as if we went through the Afghan war, as the participants were really professionally savvy, charismatic and highly intelligent”, - Sofia shared.

 

Fellow student Mikael Arshakyan is equally sure that this kind of events make the future lawyer reveal their strengths and weaknesses, and gain confidence in one’s accumulated knowledge: “The F.F. Martens Competition differs from others because it requires participants to adapt to different roles and to develop the ability to defend positions throughout the entire game. Changing the role, you have to build your position based on this role and to maintain it. We managed to reach the finals, which meant that, according to the results of the face-to-face and remote rounds, we managed to beat 50 teams from CIS countries. In the finals, the game turned out to be fair and interesting. Now we are precisely aware of our strengths and weaknesses which we should work on in the future” .

 

In her turn, RAU Master’s student Anna Khalatyan underlined that they set long-term and socially important goals for themselves with the entire team. “Since Armenia is located in a historically unstable, conflictogenic region, in-depth knowledge in the field of international humanitarian law is of strategic importance. Events such as this competition suppose not only the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and practical skills to respond in the designated area, but also the manifestation of the identity of cultures and legal consciousness of the participants. We will continue to move in the direction of the set goal and to deepen our knowledge for their proper application for the benefit of our Motherland”.

 

According to the director of the Institute of Law and Politics Marianna Kalashyan, all the three participants of the competition are among the best students of RAU both in terms of academic performance and their  active participation in the public and academic life of the university.

 

It should be noted that the competition has been held since 1997 and bears the name of Fyodor Martens, the author of "The Martens Clause", a Russian lawyer, diplomat and one of the founders of the Russian school of international law, who formulated one of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

 

The competition is an event during which students gain skills in applying international humanitarian law in simulated situations close to real ones. The best team is selected by the jury, taking into account their knowledge of international humanitarian law, the ability of the team to argue their statements and respond to the situation.

 

 

 

Translated by Praksya Ayvazyan and Elen Minasyan,
I year Master’s Students in Translation & Interpretation, RAU