On 6-12 April 2014, Faculty of Law UPH send their team to participate on the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition at Washington DC,USA
UPH Team for Jessup 2014: Nathania Carrisa Hendarta, Dinna Margaretha Gozali, Astrid Desmonda, Andrew Marsha Mulia, Paras Suresh Punjabi and Sabrina Wirawendra Kusumoprojo at Washington D.C., USA
Last April 6-12, 2014, UPH Jessup 2014 Team went to Washington D.C., the United States of America, to proceed to the International Rounds of Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, where they successfully secured the fifth position in the Preliminary Rounds out of 124 teams coming from 87 countries all over the world. Moreover, the Team also obtained other prestigious awards, namely 8th Best Combined Memorials, 3rd Best Respondent Memorial, and 89th Best Individual Oralist for Astrid Desmonda. Such achievements have never been accomplished before by UPH at the international level.
“We won against Siberian Federal University from Russia, City University of Hong Kong, Hebrew University of Jerusalem from Israel, and Law Development Centre from Uganda during the Preliminary Rounds. The former three are known to be tough opponents in the competition,” said Nathania Carrisa Hendarta, the Jessup UPH 2014 Team Captain. “Being ranked 5th in this Preliminary Rounds, our Team succeeded to prove our competence internationally along with other leading universities, such as University of Queensland from Australia, Columbia University from United States, and Ateneo de Manila University from Philippines.”
Together with the UPH Team, other top universities such as Singapore Management University and Harvard University also surpassed the rest in the Preliminary Rounds.
This year, the case that the teams had to deal with presented questions on international law of the sea. This particular field of law is regarded as one of the most complex ones, involving diverse technical issues. “I think this is an interesting topic compared to other topics of the Competition in previous years. Jessup usually takes on topics such as human rights, wars between states, as well as violation of state sovereignty. This time, though, the issues pertain to exploration and exploitation of natural resources, maritime salvage rights for underwater cultural heritage, as well as state’s right of hot pursuit, arrest, and criminal jurisdiction,” explained Nathania.
UPH Jessup 2014 Team was coached by Jessica Los Banos, an international law lecturer at UPH Faculty of Law, and advised by Roselyn Prima Winata and Jonathan Jehuda Abuthan, who competed in Jessup in 2012-2013.
The level of competence and teamwork between each team members has determined the strength of this year’s Team. Eventually, the experience and triumphs have not only brought up UPH and Indonesia at the international level, but also have given positive personal values towards each member of the Team individually.