The University of Belgrade Faculty of Law students have once again accomplished great results at the national competition in trial simulation (Moot Court) in the field of the protection against discrimination that is, for the fifth time, organized by the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality with the support of the Open Society Foundation. Out of eight teams that have qualified for the oral phase of the competition, which was held on 12 and 13 December 2017 in the premises of the Administrative Court in Belgrade and National Bank of Serbia, five teams were comprised of students of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, including the finalists.

Mr. Aleksandar Kvastek and Mr.Vladan Živković, students of the 4th year of studies at the Faculty, who were coached by Mr.Novak Vujičić, assistant lecturer, secured the second place in the oral phase of competition for our Faculty (the first prize went to University of Niš), whereas Ms. Kristina Varničić and Ms. Sanja Dedović, students of the 4th year of studies at the Faculty, who were coached by Ms. Bojana Todorović, assistant lecturer, won the first place in the written phase of the competition.

The Moot Court is envisioned as a competition for law students from accredited faculties in Serbiaand entails preparation of statement of claim and reply to statement of claim, as well as trial simulation before the competent court, based on a problem in the field of protection against discrimination. The goal of this competition is to exhort future lawyers to improve their knowledge in the area of human rights and to continue to deal with protection against discrimination in their future careers.

This year, competitors had a task to evidence or controvert a case of discrimination on grounds of disability at the court. The judges, who evaluated the teams’ knowledge and legal skills, were experienced practitioners Ms. Bosa Nenadić, Mr. Nebojša Djuričić, Ms. Vida Petrović Škero, Mr. Nebojša Lazarević and Ms. Snežana Marković.

Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Ms. Brankica Janković congratulated the winners and stressed that she was proud because Serbia has young lawyers who are ready to actively deal with protection of equality and suppression of discrimination, contributing in such way to the realization of human rights of all our citizens. She emphasized that disability has been among top discrimination grounds for years, according to the number of complaints that were submitted to our institution, and that in 2017 Commissioner for the Protection of Equality received an increased number of complaints related to providing of public services or using of public premises and areas.