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10. Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition (winter semester 2021/22)

The HPMCC is organised by ELSA in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the European Association for Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. It deals with issues around the European Convention on Human Rights. In the winter semester 2021/22, a team from the Academy for European Human Rights Protection took part in the competition for the first time. The fictional case of the 10th edition of the HPMCC dealt with the topic of climate change as well as the effects of a flood. The teams each drafted one memorial for the complainants and one for the respondent state. 

In the Regional Round conducted online in March 2022, the team beat out more than 60 teams to reach to the Final Round as one of 19 teams. The final round took place in May 2022. For this, the team travelled to Strasbourg for a week to defend their memorials in the oral hearings. In addition to the hearings in the Council of Europe building, the students visited the building of the European Court of Human Rights, took part in a city tour through Strasbourg and met judges of the ECtHR. Although, in the end it was not enough for the team to reach the round of the best 8 teams, the many encounters with international students, the intensive professional discussions as well as the interesting social programme remained in special memory. 

The 10th edition team consisted of Sharon Woamede, Greta Maria Goss, Karin Schröder and Philipp Terfurth. The team was supervised by Lisa Kujus and Frederic Kupsch. The team would like to thank the many supporters who gave their active support in the form of ideas, sample readings and financial contributions. In particular, we would like to mention the law firms Redeker Sellner Dahs, Görg and Verte Rechtsanwälte. Many thanks! 

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Greta Maria Goss (21) studies law in her 6th semester at the University of Cologne. Even before taking up this course of study, Greta has been particularly interested in human rights issues and stated the profession of human rights lawyer as her dream profession in her Abitur-newspaper. During her studies, she pursues her enthusiasm for human rights issues through her involvement in the Refugee Law Clinic Cologne, where she completed the semester course in asylum and residence law and applies her knowledge in the supervision of mandates. In addition, through her work as Director of Human Rights at ELSA Cologne, she would like to bring the topic, which is only dealt with on the fringes of her studies, closer to the students. Greta deepened her knowledge of international migration law and international human rights by participating in an ELSA Winter Law School in Georgia. Here she was able to gain her first moot court experience, which awakened in her the desire to participate in a larger moot court. On the other hand, she enjoyed the exchange with law students from all over the world and the opportunity to network across national borders. In addition, she is also interested in the field of intellectual property, so that she specializes in the area of intellectual property and competition, to combine her two areas of interest. In order to pursue her interest in foreign jurisdictions and the English language, Greta also participates in the CUSL program in U.S. law. By participating in the moot court, Greta would like to deal in depth with human rights issues and improve both her rhetorical and foreign language skills. Above all, she looks forward to mastering this task together in a team and appreciates the chance to look beyond the subjects of the regular law studies. In her spare time, Greta devotes herself to painting, plays the violin, enjoys sports and yoga, and learns the Arabic language.

Karin Schröder (25)  began her law studies in the winter semester of 2015 via the German-French Bachelor's programme. After two years at the University of Cologne for her basic studies, she transferred to the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and took courses in French and English law. After two years in Paris and the bachelor's degree, another ERASMUS stay at Master's level followed at the VU Amsterdam.  Here she mainly took courses in the field of human rights with a focus on current problems (refugee law, internet law) and security law (internal security, counter-terrorism). The stays abroad repeatedly showed the Europeanisation of human rights. Since 2020, she has been back at the University of Cologne and resumed her German studies with the start of the Repititorium. During this time, she decided to participate in an English-language moot court as a student in order to deepen her interest in human rights in a practical way and to experience a moot court. She is particularly looking forward to working in a mixed team and over such a long period of time. The acquisition of soft skills in the form of research, debating and teamwork also attracts her to a moot court. In her free time, she spends a lot of time in the garden, enjoys dancing and baking, and is deepening her knowledge of French, English, Dutch and other languages.

Sharon Woamede (20) was born in the middle of the Ruhrgebiet. Not only has she always been keen to learn new languages, she has also always been an advocate for justice. For that reason she developed the growing desire to become a law student after her Abitur. That desire was confirmed when she started engaging in voluntary work at the church of her local Christian parish in her hometown Oberhausen. During that time she worked with numerous children and adolescents from different backgrounds and origins. After successfully graduating the Gymnasium as a student of honor back in July 2018 and a following three month stay in the US, she finally got to realize her wish and is now studying the German law in the 6thsemester at the university of Cologne. Since she was really moved and shaped by the encounters she made and the stories she heard during her volunteer work at the church, she holds a very firm interest in human rights especially those regulations protecting against discrimination of minorities. Sharon is beyond excited in regards of her participation at the Helga-Pedersen-Moot-Court-Competition and is looking forward to the opportunity of standing up for her beliefs, expanding her knowledge of the English language and making first practical experiences apart from the usual studies in the area of human rights protection together with her awesome team. In her free time Sharon enjoys German literature, playing the piano and extending her knowledge of the English, French and Spanish language. 

Philipp Terfurth (25) was born 1996 in Duisburg. Before starting his law studies at the University of Cologne in 2015, he graduated from Gymnasium Voerde with a focus on mathematics, physical education and languages. While going to school, he already had the opportunity to participate in exchange programmes with Moscow and Nantes (France), where he forged international friendships and got to know foreign cultures. Before graduating, Philipp spent one year in Córdoba (Argentina), lived with a host-family and went to an Argentinian secondary school. After studying for one semester at the Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes in France, it became clear to him that one can only really get to know foreign countries by immersing oneself in the language and culture. So far, Philipp is now fluent in German, English, French and Spanish and is still very keen on adding a fifth language, preferably Russian, during the next semesters at the University’s language lab. In addition to the German legal system, he benefitted from the Certificate of United States Law - offered by the chair for U.S. Law - where he acquired advanced knowledge in several domains of U.S. law. Philipp had his first mooting experience during the interdisciplinary summer school PROTEUS, which finished with a small Moot Court on European Law in Brussels. He especially cherished to work together in a team to defend their position in front of the judges in court and could acquire first-hand experience in doing so. Philipp furthered his practical knowledge in transnational legal services and in Spanish during an internship at a Spanish-German law firm in Madrid. Having completed the Civil law Moot Court at the University in 2nd place and the Moot Court at the International Criminal Court in the quarter-finals, he is now even more motivated to compete in Straßbourg in this team.As international Human Rights law is a crucial area for many other topics (e.g. international criminal law, international humanitarian law, just to mention a few) and the European regional system has been setting landmark decisions for Human Rights law, Philipp considers it to be especially beneficial for international lawyers to be able to take part in such an event. He is also keen on increasing his abilities in pleading and written argumentation.