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Studying law is difficult enough but in Afghanistan, students are faced with more challenges than most. 22 year-old Mujtaba Habibi is a student at Balkh University in the north of Afghanistan. Sometimes he’s had to study by candlelight if the local neighbourhood has had a power cut. His fellow student, Mohammad Qadamshah, says often they can’t even go online.
“We didn’t have any access to the internet so when a team, when a group of persons want to research something, especially in the case of international law, we should have access to the internet at first,” says Mohammad.
Representing Afghanistan
Despite daily challenges, Mohammad and Mutjaba's team recently won the Afghan national rounds of one of the most prestigious international competitions for law students, known as the, “Jessup Cup”. During the Afghan selection contest, all funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), students had to debate in English on three key issues: the legality of the destruction of a cultural site, who may represent a nation after a coup d’état and government responsibility for military action. At Jessup Cup, each team will be judged on its performance in the proceedings of a moot court where the students simulate court proceedings and participate in oral argument. There, they will practice international law, representing fictional countries in a proceeding before the International Court of Justice.
Learning from the experts
Two American mentors have been advising the students from Balkh. Jeff Arnold works as a lawyer with the US State Department.
“They’re each very engaging. Mujtaba of course, I really like the way he engages when you ask him a questions,” says Jeff. “During the arguments, I think he is probably a better advocate than I was when I was in the court room already, he’s a young man who hasn’t graduated yet.”
Another of the mentors is Lieutenant Megan Romigh, a lawyer with three years legal experience in the US Navy.
“I tried to teach them a little bit of the American trial lawyer’s style, not to be too formal and boxed in, but to speak with passion, to speak with conviction, to show that they care about what they’re doing, to show that they care about their client”, explains Lieutenant Romigh. “And even though their clients in this case are fictional, because it’s based on a moot court case, it still shows that they care a lot about their clients and a lot about the cause.”
Mujtaba Habibi says he’s very grateful for the support he’s been given.
“English is not our native language and of course studying or researching on international law, it is very difficult even in our own language so this point was the other part of their assistance to us,” says Mujtaba.
The team from Balkh heads off in March to the international finals in Washington DC. They will be up against entries from more than 500 law schools in 80 countries.