The team of students from FGV’s Sao Paulo Law School (FGV Direito SP) won the first place in the 24^th edition of the Inter-American Human Rights Competition, which took place in Washington D.C., last week. Promoted by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the American University Washington College of Law, its purpose is to consolidate the learning about the operation of the Inter-American Human Rights System among law students worldwide.

This year, the competitors focused on the issue of Protection of Migrants under International Human Rights Law, based on the (fictional) case “Gonzalo Belano and 807 more migrants. Republic of Arcadia.” The winning team was composed of students Beatriz Sinnes, Beatriz Katano, Felipe Paro, Estéfany Monteiro and Luiza Castelo Vieira, supported in its training by students Giulia Dutra, Julia Piazza and Marcella Penhalber, who participated in the competition the previous year.

To win the first place, FGV Direito SP surpassed 79 teams of American, European and Latin American universities that already had a strong tradition in achievements in these modes.

“In order to achieve this result, we carried out several training sessions throughout the weeks of preparation: there were many hours of questions, a lot of feedback, and long nights to discuss the best argument. This result is the result of a lot of work,” said Marcella Penhalber, one of the team coaches.

“The most important aspect of an activity such as this one is its ability to qualify our students in the various skills that will be indispensable to a law operator who must deal with complex problems. They enhance the capacity for legal research, building litigation strategies, as well as writing pieces, preparing oral support, and developing teamwork. Above all, they demand a standard of excellence in everything they do,” said Professor Roberto Dias, Graduate Studies Coordinator at FGV Direito SP. 

According to Cassia Nakano, Legal Practice coordinator, the achievement of this award is a stimulus for students to engage more in extracurricular activities. “With the new curriculum, students are given more opportunities to participate in competitions, study groups, and student bodies. And, from the initiative of participating to teams from other schools, through intense training, competitions allow students to exercise key skills for their career, such as negotiation, teamwork, argument development, and even fundraising,” she explained.

In turn, Professor Oscar Vilhena Vieira, Dean of FGV Direito SP and human rights expert, points out that the discussion about the subject proposed in the competition is more than timely.

“We are experiencing the biggest migration crisis since World War II. UNHCR data for 2017 show that there were 68 million displaced people in the world. In 2017 alone, 16.2 million were displaced for the first time. It is a growing number because regions that had not felt the phenomenon until recently, such as South America, have begun to experience an increasing number of refugees,” he said.