From March 20 to 23, 2024, the team from the International Section of the Legal Clinic, consisting of Patryk Czyżewski, Zofia Liszkowska, Paweł Woźniak, and Wojciech Bogacz (third-year law students), supported by their supervisors, PhD candidates Adrian Kaczmarek, M.A., and Michał Wawrzyńczak, M.A., from the Doctoral School of Social Sciences, represented the department at the “International Migration and Refugee Law Moot Court” tournament in Antwerp. The event was organized by the University of Antwerp and the MigrLaw Research Group.
The team from the Law Clinic of the Faculty of Law at Adam Mickiewicz University was one of just 12 teams worldwide to qualify for the oral finals held in Antwerp. In the finals, they competed against teams from top universities across Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. During the oral rounds, the students presented their arguments before professional judges who have either adjudicated or are currently adjudicating asylum and migration cases in courts and tribunals worldwide.
The team spent over three months working on written memoranda, navigating the complex field of international asylum and migration law, particularly regarding decisions to deny asylum and orders to leave the country in a case that combined fictional elements with real events from Afghanistan surrounding the Taliban’s takeover. The students based their arguments on an interpretation of the “persecution on the basis of membership in a particular social group” clause, considering whether Afghan women or so-called “westernized” individuals could be considered a particular social group within the meaning of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Additionally, they referenced the state’s international obligations to protect human rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, and the Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
The team’s hard work culminated in the preparation of exceptional written memoranda, which received high marks from the judges. Combined with their solid performances in the oral finals, this secured the team an impressive 7th place in the tournament.