Ukrainian law students compete in Oxford media law competition
The Ukrainian law students’ team from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy made it to the final oral round of the Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition in Oxford for the second year in a row
By Alina Sviderska and Antonina Cherevko
The Ukrainian law students whose participation in the Oxford media law competition was supported by IMS, was one of only eight teams out of a total of 28 that made it to the quarter-finals where they were defeated by the American team from the University of Pennsylvania.
The Price Moot Court Competition, which took place from 29 March – 2 April 2011, is the only international competition for law students which focuses on media law. The participants are asked to settle fictive disputes concerning the right to freedom of expression as set out in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each team represents the applicant and respondent substantively both in writing and through pleadings before the so-called moot courts.
Exploring international media law practices
This year’s moot court cases centred around issues such as the licensing of Internet content providers, filtering of mobile phone providers and internet service providers, as well as privacy issues including the obligatory provision of encryption codes to the government.
Ukrainian law student Alina Sviderska of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, who was part of the Ukrainian team, was strongly inspired by the experience:
– Overall, whatever the final result of the Moot Court, the impact of such experience is priceless. High standards of this Competition and motivation to succeed inspired us to improve ourselves as media lawyers and attorneys. The stirring topic of freedom of expression encouraged us to conduct deep and productive research.
-While shaping our arguments we explored international practice and the experiences of various countries in the protection of freedom of expression and the regulation of Internet, she continues.
– This allowed us to re-consider and assess the situation in Ukraine and to develop our own vision of how to resolve current problems in this field at the national and local levels. Communication with other bright and intelligent students and professors from throughout the world facilitated effective networking and experience exchange. I think we are now much more ready and enthusiastic about our further involvement in media law and media development in our country.
Boosting knowledge
The Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition has been gaining increasing attention and success within the last few years among both academic workers and young ambitious students who plan to be further involved in freedom of expression and freedom of information areas throughout the world. The recent 2011 Moot Court Competition was highly competitive, gathering 28 teams from countries such as the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore, Greece, Latvia, Serbia, Nigeria, Kenya, India, China, Bangladesh, Jordan, Georgia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and others.
Ukrainian law student Tetyana Matsyuk describes the preparations for the Moot Court:
– We began preparing for the moot court as early as November 2010 when our team was formed and we started to discuss and write memorandums for the Moot Court. The most challenging part of the preparation was to find information on the relatively new topic – freedom of expression and information on the Internet, and technological questions such as encryption codes. It was hard work, but also added a lot of new knowledge. Thanks to our joint efforts and the diligent help of our coach we succeeded in completing our written submissions and they were praised highly by the Moot Court judges.
The pool of respectable judges included media lawyers, academics, former and current judges, and representatives of leading freedom of expression and media law organisations from the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. This year, IMS Programme Officer for Ukraine, Antonina Cherevko, was also included in the prestigious line-up of judges in the Competition.
For more information, please contact Antonina Cherevko, IMS Programme Officer for Ukraine, at ac@mediasupport.org or +380 50 410 27 68.
The 2011 Ukrainian students’ team from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was represented by the law students Alina Sviderska, Anna Balatska, Bronislav Totskyi and Tetyana Matsyuk. Mr. Taras Shevchenko, Director of the Kyiv Media Law Institute, traditionally performed as a team coach.
