Accra, Aug. 1, GNA – The University of Ghana, Legon, placed second at the 20th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition held at Pretoria, South Africa.

The University team also brought home the overall best Oralist Award, which was picked by Mr Dennis Armah, who displayed sterling advocacy skills, a statement issued by the Faculty of Law has said in Accra.

The competition, the largest annual gathering in Africa of students and lecturers of Law, was hosted by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, from July 7 to 12.

It was on the theme, “Indigenous Peoples’ Right to their Land against Mineral Exploitation.”

This year’s competition coincided with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 25th Anniversary of the Centre for Human Rights.

The African Human Rights Moot provides a rare opportunity for law students across the continent to hone their skills in preparation towards becoming the next generation of human rights scholars and advocates in Africa.

Each year, a particular theme on human rights is chosen around which a hypothetical case is framed for students to prepare their memorials and make oral presentations before a panel of judges.

Each team is then given the opportunity to take part in four preliminary rounds out of which the best four teams from the Anglophone section and two from the Francophone qualifies for the grand finale.

By winning all the four rounds, the statement says, the University of Ghana team, made up of Mr Dennis Armah and Miss Benedicta Armah, reached the final and teamed up with the Moi University (Kenya) and Université Gaston Berger (Senegal) to argue for the Applicants in the case against the combined team of University of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Botswana and Université de Cocody (Côte d’Ivoire) arguing for the respondents.

The competition was adjudicated by five members of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including the Chairperson, Advocate Reine Alapini Gansou.

At the end, the Respondent team went home with the trophy.

University of Ghana’s individual team player efforts were, however, rewarded with Mr Dennis Armah winning the Overall Best Oralist Award for his sterling display of advocacy skills.

His compatriot, Benedicta Armah placed seventh, thus both coming within the elite best 10 oralists.

Mr Armah’s feat makes it the second time that Ghana has won that prestigious award, following Mr Kwame Akuffo’s victory in 1995.

The statement says University of Ghana’s record in the competition remains outstanding.

It has been to the final thrice in the past five years under the management of Dr Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua and won twice, an enviable feat in the records of the competition.

University of Ghana also remains among the universities that have won the competition for the most times while its record of being the only Anglophone team to have successfully defended a title remains intact.

Ghana’s other participating team, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) performed equally well by winning three out of its four preliminary rounds while its Ms Dankyi won the sixth Best Oralist position.

Fifty-three university teams from twenty-two African countries took part in this year’s competition which was graced by a special message from Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu through a special letter.

The statement says: “Archbishop Tutu encouraged the participants to promote the African spirit of ‘ubuntu ‘– the essence of humanity and noted that ‘by taking part in the 20th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition in Pretoria this July 2011, the students are joining the ranks of a new generation in whose hands the realisation of human rights in Africa ultimately rests.’”