International Criminal Court Moot

The International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition or ICCMCC is an annual international moot court competition on international criminal law that is held at The Hague and organised by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University, The Hague Campus, with the institutional support of the International Criminal Court and International Bar Association. Pace Law School had conceived of the moot as an in-class exercise in 2004, and it was in 2005 that a domestic competition was started.^[4] The competition became international the following year, with the finals being held in 2007.^[5] With sometimes more than 100 teams from 50 countries taking part annually, the ICCMCC is the world's largest competition on international criminal law and is considered one of the grand slam or major moots.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} The competition has been held in various languages thus far; in addition to English, there are also Chinese, Spanish, French, and Russian editions of the competition.

Judges of the competition include ICC judges and officers, and teams have to present arguments based on a fictitious problem via the roles of prosecution counsel, defence counsel, government counsel, or victim's representative. The arguments made usually relate to pre-trial or appeal proceedings. Each team is given 20 minutes for the main submissions and 10 minutes for rebuttal/surebuttal. For the English edition of the moot, each country can only send a limited number of teams to participate; depending on the rules for the year, regional or national rounds may be organised to select the teams that will compete in the international rounds. To date, such rounds have been held for the Americas and Caribbean, Brazil, China, Georgia, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, and the Netherlands.^[11] For the international rounds, in 2013, semi-final rounds were introduced for the top nine teams, with the top three teams proceeding to the championship final. In 2015, the number of preliminary rounds were increased from three to six, and in 2016 quarter-final rounds were introduced for the top 27 teams. In 2020, the oral rounds were cancelled due to COVID-19, and in 2021 and 2022, the competition adopted an online format. Since 2022, seeding and choice of side have been randomised.

Singapore Management University, which debuted in 2015, has the best track record in this competition, having reached the international championship final six times and winning it five times.

Competition records (English rounds)

References

1. "The 2017/18 International Moots Season in Review". 8 October 2018.
2. "A Recap of the 2018/19 International Moots Season". 7 September 2019.
3. "COVID-19 and the 2019/20 International Moots Season". 7 October 2020.
4. "About Us | ICC Moot Court Competition".
5. "Organization | ICC Moot Court Competition".
6. "Another Season of Record-Breaking International Moot Court Achievements (SMU)". 31 October 2017.
7. "Mooting Premier League is back: MPL 7 sees Nalsar, UILS, NLS, NLIU lead after strong 2016 start".
8. "NUJS emerges Runner up at the ICC Moot Court Competition 2018". June 2018.
9. "SMU team wins moot contest in the Hague". 15 June 2018.
10. "IBA ICC Moot Court Competition".
11. "Winners Regional/National Rounds 2018 | ICC Moot Court Competition".
12. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/singapore-management-university-wins-icc-moot-court-competition-english-version-0 ^{[bare URL]}
13. https://iccmoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Final-11th-edition-Booklet-IBA-ICCMCC-2024-1.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
14. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/universidade-federal-da-bahia-brazil-wins-icc-moot-court-competition-english-version ^{[bare URL]}
15. https://www.canva.com/design/DAFeqTRnFi0/kX2brnJ-by0Ms2lFI3BU2w/view?utm_content=DAFeqTRnFi0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink#28 ^{[bare URL]}
16. https://iccmoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IBA-ICCMCC-2022-Booklet.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
17. "2022 IBA ICC Moot Court Competition won by the Honourable Society of King's Inns".
18. "Singapore Management University (Singapore) wins ICC Moot Court Competition, English version".
19. https://iccmoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IBA-ICCMCC-2021-Booklet-PDF.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
20. "Awards 2019 | ICC Moot Court Competition".
21. "Awards 2018 | ICC Moot Court Competition".
22. "Results ICCMCC 2017 | ICC Moot Court Competition".
23. "Singapore Management University wins ICC Moot Court Competition, English version". International Criminal Court. 27 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
24. "Singapore Management University wins ICC Trial Competition, English version". International Criminal Court. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
25. "Singapore Management University wins ICC Trial Competition, English version". The Hague Justice Portal. 22 May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
26. "National Law University, Delhi, wins ICC Trial Competition, English version". International Criminal Court. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
27. "1st Indians to win ICC moot". Legally India. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
28. "Leiden University wins the English version of the ICC Trial Competition". International Criminal Court. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
29. "Leiden Wins ICC Moot". 28 April 2013.
30. "City University of Hong Kong wins the ICC Trial Competition (English version)" (PDF). International Criminal Court. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
31. "Bond University (Australia) wins the ICC Trial Competition (English round)" (PDF). International Criminal Court. 1 May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
32. "ICC Trial success for Nalsar: MPL win out of contention?". Legally India. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2015.