Ignacio Lepro, Eliška Mockova and Tori More will represent the Geneva Academy at the 2019 Jean-Pictet Competition

Geneva Academy

8 January 2019

Ignacio Lepro, Eliška Mockova and Tori More, currently enrolled in our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (LLM), will represent the Geneva Academy at the 31st Edition of the Jean-Pictet Competition that will take place in Obernai (France) from 16 to 23 March 2019.

George Dvaladze, Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy and PhD candidate at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva, is coaching them.

‘Given the uniqueness of this experience, we see every year a great interest among our students to participate in the Jean-Pictet Competition. This is why members of the Geneva Academy’s team are selected through a competitive process. Once the team is formed, we hold regular meetings to guide them in acquiring additional knowledge of the law and various professional and interpersonal skills that will help them make the most of the Competition. Our alumni who have participated in the competition are always keen to join us during role-playing simulations to relive the Pictet experience’ says George Dvaladze.

A Diverse Team

‘We have this year a very diverse and dynamic team, with students bringing different legal backgrounds and experiences’ underlines George Dvalaze.

Ignacio Lepro holds a Juris Doctor degree (Hons) from the University of Buenos Aires. Before coming to the Geneva Academy, he interned at the Civil Association for Equality and Justice, volunteered at the Argentine Red Cross and worked as Legal Project Manager at HAART Kenya, providing legal aid to victims of human trafficking.

Eliška Mockova holds a Bachelor in Political Science (Hons) and a Master in Law (Hons) from the Charles University in Prague. Before coming to the Geneva Academy, she interned at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, focusing on international criminal justice.

Tori More completed her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Global Development Studies from Queen's University and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Victoria, both in Canada. Before coming to the Geneva Academy, she interned at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), completed a Clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada and worked as Legal Counsel with the Canadian Department of Justice.

An Integral Part of the LLM

The Jean-Pictet Competition is an important part of the professionalizing training on international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights offered by the LLM at the Geneva Academy.

‘The Pictet Competition allows our students to measure themselves with other teams from all around the world trying to do what we try in the LLM: to take IHL out of the books – from which our students have learned the substance of IHL, discussed by their teachers – to apply it to real-life situations, by taking the position of one of the actors involved. This makes students accept that the truth is nearly never only with one side, but also that IHL may nevertheless not be manipulated for a ‘client’, because most often no judge will adjudicate, but our students will be, in their future professional positions, the invisible tribunal applying IHL’ explains Marco Sassòli, Director of the Geneva Academy.

Successful Participation

The Geneva Academy has been successfully participating in the Jean-Pictet Competition for the past few years by winning the competition in 2016 and reaching the semi-finals in 2017 and 2018.

Several alumni are also regularly participating in the competition as members of the organizing committee, jury members or as tutors.