From left to right: Weeris Atichatpongsuk, Supakorn Wilartratsami, Nathat Chongcharoenpanich

The IHL role play team of Thammasat University has won the IHL national role play competition and become the Thailand representative team to compete on behalf of Thailand in the international round.

Weeris Atichatpongsuk, Supakorn Wilartratsami, and Nathat Chongcharoenpanich, second year students at the International LLB Program of Thammasat University have participated and won an International Humanitarian Law Role Play competition hosted by the ICRC. The competition is a one-day event which took place on the 10th of October 2020 and was followed by a Moot Court Competition on the 11th. The team was pleased to share these incredible experiences with us today.

(1) Process of the Competition

“The competition was divided into the morning and the afternoon session. In the morning session, the teams went to ‘bases’ in pairs and took the roles of Humanitarian officers. In each base, the teams faced different situations tailored by the organizers. The situations were acted out by the judges and organizers to show what really happens in the real Humanitarian fieldwork. The situations we faced include going to talk and examine parties to the conflict in various situations. In real ICRC work, the real combatants do not always know nor comply with the law. Thus, the real humanitarian officers had to improvise and negotiate using various skills to empathize and find the best way to make parties to a conflict comply with the law for the sake of humanity. The competition also makes us do the same. During each scene, we had to apply our knowledge of International Humanitarian Law and also think outside the box. We had great fun! The actors were very into their roles, and we had the chance to experience and play. Overall, when we were facing each situation, the event did not feel like a competition at all. It was more like a game in which both the participants and organizers enjoyed.”

“After the lunch break, the afternoon session commenced. Here, we move from roleplaying the work in the field to roleplaying the work in the briefing room. First, we had the chance to continue our roles as ICRC officers, albeit we must now report what we experienced in the imaginary war in the morning to our superiors at the ICRC. Here, we assessed the factual situation and applied the law to it. Thereafter, we, still as humanitarian officers, got the chance to brief the commanders of a party to the conflict to make them comply with the rules of war to reduce suffering. After that, we switched the role to legal advisors of a party to the conflict. Here, our purpose would change, and we have to aim more for the advantage of the side we are on while still complying with the rules of armed conflict. In all of these briefings, we were allowed to be creative in using the law for different purposes.”