Archive - English

29.01.2008
Oral Round dates are set...

Dear visitor, we are glad to inform you that the Written Round of the IHR competition is already finished. During one month IHR project team and the experienced experts on field Human Rights of RA checked the technical aspect and contest of the memorials. By January 24 YFA received all the assessment sheets from the judges.

On January 29 a meeting with the teams will be organized during which they will be handed the final package which will include the final score of their Memorials and details about the Oral Round procedures.

On January 30 the court etiquette training will be organized, where the students will learn about the procedures and the rules of European Court. During the training the teams will be also provided with relevant materials.

During the coming few days IHR teams will have an opportunity to summarize and clarify all the information and knowledge gained during the last months and on February 7 they will be act in front of the European Court of Human Rights.

Thus the Oral Round of the IHR Mooting Competition Project will last based on the following timeline:

preliminary stage, on February 7, at 9:00-18:00 in Armenia Marriott hotel;
quarter-final stage, on February 8, at 9:00-12:00 in Armenia Marriott hotel;
semi-final stage, on February 8, at 12:00 in Armenia Marriott hotel;
final stage, on February 9, at 12:00, which will be followed by the award ceremony and the closing of the project.

For now we wish success to IHR teams.

20.12.2007
IHR students are qualified as debate moderators.

Until December 16, students were visiting the school clubs in12 rural communities of Armenia to moderate the debates of the children, which gave them a good opportunity to put all the knowledge and skills they had gained from the last training.

After all the debates, "Development principles" NGO with the co-financial support of "Heifer" Project International Armenian Branch organized a seminar to summarize all the results of the debates and give the students opportunity to share with the skills and ideas gained from those.

The seminar was conducted with active participation of the students, which gave a base to conclude that this component of the project was efficient and useful for the students, who were expressing not only their emotions but they were also presenting substantial results and facts of the debates procedures.

Overall the meeting lasted for 4 hours, where the students had a chance to participate in several team works and individual activities.

After the seminar all the participants were handed questionnaires to evaluate the efficiency of the project and the results gained from the debates. This was followed by the official ceremony of bestowing the certificates for participation.

The words of gratitude addressed to the project organizers and the positive feedback of the trainers showed the mutual admiration and the useful cooperation between the students and the project organizers gained in this short time.

17.12.2007
Waiting for Results of the Written Round.

The deadline for submission of the written memorials was December 5. Despite the fact that each day after the deadline would be marked as a late submission penalty, the teams still continued submitting their memorials even after the set deadline. Hence, YFA received memorials from 15 teams. We wish good luck to all of them!

While the project team is checking the technical aspect of the memorials, judges of the competition will be conducting their legal analysis. In January teams will gather for the next coordination meeting, during which they will receive their final score for the Written Round and will be informed about the procedures of the Oral Round.

On January 30, the teams will participate in Seminar on Advocating Oral skills in the Court.

27.11.2007
"Interactive Human Rights" project students are debating...

On November 25 the training devoted to enhancement of students` moderator skills was organized in Yerevan "Congress" Hotel. This component of the project is co-funded by "Heifer" Project International Armenian Branch and implemented by YFA partner organization- "Development principles" NGO. The students were handed questionnaires aimed at checking their Human Rights knowledge about a month ago and this gave basis for the organizations to choose 20-24 students for participation in this component of the project.

As the main aim of the debates was to raise the students' awareness about the art of debates, the first stage was the conduction of this special training. The students will use the acquired knowledge and skills for acting as moderators in 12 rural communities of Armenia.

Over 70 students filled the questionnaires and "Development Principles" chose the best 24 students to participate in the debates.

The training included the following steps:

Introduction: Both the trainers, the training organizers and the students were given an opportunity to introduce themselves.
The concept of moderator and debate: the main definitions and differences.
In this part first the students shared their experience and knowledge about the theme, and later with help of the trainer the ideas were brought to visual form.
When the participants were already informed about debates and the main roles and responsibilities of moderators, the training turned to its practical sphere. Here the students were given opportunities to act as moderators and to debate with each other.
During the training the students also participated in a number of ice-breaking activities to keep the activeness and interest.
At the end of the training, when the students already had the status of moderator, they drafted the schedule of the debates. The first debate will take place on November 29 in Sevan, where the two students will use all the abilities and skills gained from the training and will organize debates with school students. The communities chosen for the debates are the followings: Djadjur, Khor - Virap, Saramej, Nalbandyan, Gyumri, Zorakan, Getap, Areni, Arpi. The last debate will be in Zorakan on December 16.

The theme of the debates is also chosen to be interesting and efficient for the students: "Are the Rights of Children Protected in Armenia".

We wish success to all the participants...

23.11.2007
Deadline for Written Round is Coming Up

Trainings dedicated to Written Round were organized in November. Due to great number of teams instead of one training as mentioned in the Official Timeline of the Project, three trainings were organized and around 100 students had their participation. The aim of this training was to provide the students with necessary skills for the preparation of their written pleadings. During the training the 5th Rule (The Procedures of the Written Round) of the Official Rules was discussed in details, as well as the stylistic principles and the necessary format of the memorials were touched upon. Students received packages which included documents regarding the procedures of European Court and, meanwhile, also had opportunity to ask all the questions that they had concerning the entire technical procedures.

The training was followed with the provision of the 2nd package of Basic Materials, as well as Official Clarifications to the Official Problem and Official Rules of the Competition.

The deadline for submission of Written Memorials is December 5. YFA will continue accepting Written Memorials after the mentioned deadline, however, the corresponding penalty of the 9th Rule of Official Rules will be considered.

12.10.2007
Registration of teams is finalized...

Registration of IHR teams is already finalized. Overall 35 teams from 22 state and private universities were registered. Registered teams represented Gegharkunik, Tavush, Shirak, Armavir, Kotayk and Syunik regions, as well as Yerevan.

The consecutive stage of the competition was organization of the coordination meeting the aim of which was to provide the students with their secret code number and the 1st package of Basic Materials. The electronic version of the package is available in the Useful Materials section of the website.

Until October 20 the registered teams can apply with their Written Requests for Clarification of the Competition Official Problem and Official Rules.

YFA wishes all the teams success and expects active participation.

01.08.2007
The first steps of "Interactive Human Rights" European Law Mooting competition are already done

During March - May 2007, after the project initial package preparation, "Youth For Achievements" organization informed the students and administration of all HEI of Armenia about the project sending an information letter to the HEI rectors and the relevant faculty deans. Till the end of the first week of June 2007, each HEI notified about a representative person, who would carry out the responsibility of the following points.

Dissemination of the information about the project among the students,
Increasing of their interest in the project activities,
Presence during the meeting organized by YFA.

During the second week of July, after this stage, YFA organized individual meetings with the HEI representatives and provided them with materials of the project, including the project description, an sample of the brochure and the timeline for the representatives. The second coordination meeting with the representatives took place on 20 of July 2007 in "Aviatrans" hotel in Yerevan, which gave them an opportunity to get acquainted with the funding and implementing organization and the project implementation as well.

The further steps of the project are the following:

During the end of August the second package will be sent to HEIs, which will include the Official Problem, the Official Rules, the Official Timeline with a number of posters and brochures as well,
The deadline for the team registration is set on September 25. The teams will have to fill in the special registration forms, which YFA will provide them during the last week of August.
On October 10, after the teams' registration, YFA will provide them with the package of all the relevant project information.

26.03.2007
Dear visitor, "Youth For Achievements" Educational NGO is glad to inform you that starting March 1, 2007 the organization is continuing "Interactive Human Rights" European Law Mooting Competition Project with the financial assistance of European Commission Delegation in Armenia and in partnership with "Legal Guide" and "Development Principles" NGOs. In April the Official Problem and all the other relevant documents of the Contest will be posted on the website. You can also download the Competition Registration Form.