By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Abd Ra’ai Osman

BANGI, 12 August 2015 – The National University of Malaysia (UKM) will organise Malaysia’s first ever simulation and role-playing competition to test  the knowledge of participants from all over the world involved in war on International Law.

UKM and the International Committee Of The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) for the former to host the week-long Jean-Pictet Competition in October to evaluate the skills  of participants and observers  in armed conflict on International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

UKM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali signed for the university while the ICRC was represented by its legal regional advisor for South-East Asia Kelisiana Thynne here on August 7^th.

Both parties also renewed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which was last signed in 2012 with UKM’s Faculty of Law to work together in activities related to teaching and researching on humanitarian laws.

Thynne said the ICRC and UKM had worked quite well together and it was pleased to renew the cooperation on training of humanitarian law.

“Given UKM’s commitment to excellence, many subjects, like Law and Human International Human Rights will enable joint efforts to promotion of International Law. International Humanitarian Law, organised by UKM, debates, competitions including Moot Court have been held by UKM.

“Look forward to more collaborations,” she explained.

The signings were witnessed by Dean of The faculty of Law Prof Dr Rohimi Shapiee, and ICRC Legal officer Fok Low Yeow.

The Jean-Pictet Competition is a training event on international humanitarian law intended for undergraduate or above in Law, Political Science, military academies, social sciences and others.

It aims to test the students knowledge of international law and apply it to a battlefield scenario by simulations and role plays, allowing the jury of the competition to evaluate teams’ theoretical knowledge and practical understanding of IHL.

Malaysia, represented by UKM made its debut at the 2014 Jean Pictet Moot Court competition on international humanitarian law held in Portugal.

The ICRC and Red Crescent Movement is the largest humanitarian network in the world. Its mission is to alleviate human suffering, protect life and health, and uphold human dignity especially during armed conflicts and other emergencies.