Law event
Advocating for child rights
Nazmuzzaman Bhuian
The Dhaka University Moot Court Society (DUMCS) is a students' organization of the Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka, dedicated to the ideal of the integrity of the legal profession. The DUMCS, for its purpose, has been organizing workshops on mooting for law students in particular with a view to developing critical insights into various important social and legal issues while polishing the legal skills starting with the drafting of briefs and participating in oral arguments before a bench of Judges.
On 18 August 2008, Dhaka University Moot Court Society in collaboration with the Save the Children UK organized a Workshop on Mooting: Children Issues, at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka. Selected student representatives from the Departments of Law of five different Universities namely the University of Dhaka; Eastern University; Southeast University; Stamford University and Northern University participated in the workshop. Save the Children UK sponsored the Workshop as a part of its youth awareness program on children issues.
The Program started at 10:00am after the formalities of the registration process. The workshop was inaugurated by Professor Dr. Taslima Monsoor, Chairman, Department of Law, University of Dhaka. Mrs. U.M. Habibun Nessa, Head of Programme, Protection, Save the Children UK gave her valuable observations. Respected teachers of the Department of Law, Dhaka University were also present on the occasion.
The workshop included a demo moot competition where the case was based on Children Issues. The moot competition took place before a bench of three Judges. Both the teams of the trial consisted of two counsels and one researcher, where the team for Appellants was from Department of Law, University of Dhaka and the team for Respondent was from Department of Law, Northern University.
After the exciting Mock Trial, Mrs. U.M. Habibun Nessa: Head of Programme, Protection, Save the Children UK delivered a power point presentation on Children Issues. Her insightful presentation in context of the Child Rights in Bangladesh clearly gained the thoughtful attention and inquiries of the participants. Afterwards, Professor Dr. Sumaiya Khair, Department of Law, University of Dhaka, delivered her effective presentation on the “Importance of Advocacy in Juvenile Justice System”. Her judicious presentation shaded lights on the Juvenile Justice system of the country including the loopholes of it and the possible way-out.
The next part of the workshop was an interactive session on “Effective Mooting Techniques” arranged by Taslima Yasmin, Vice President, DUMCS and Christabel Randolph, General Secretary, DUMCS. They presented a power point presentation before the audience, which contained an assortment of guidelines regarding Mooting.
At 02:00 P.M., the Judges expressed their observation about the whole procedures, which threw lights on the lacuna of the counsels and their presentation. They also encouraged the participants and the interested students, to get involved in Mooting.
At the closing session of the workshop, Professor Dr. Nazrul Islam, Acting Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka, handed over the certificates among the Mooters and the participants of the workshop. In his sparkling speech on the workshop, he encouraged the interested and enthusiastic students to participate more and more in mooting for promoting certain essential skills. The workshop formally came to an end by the closing address of Mr. Md. Nazmuzzaman Bhuian, Moderator; Dhaka University Moot Court Society.
The writer is Assistant Professor, Law Faculty, Dhaka University.
