On 15-16 April 2024, a group of 14 students from the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, together with postgraduate students from the University of Oxford, had the unique opportunity to visit the International Court of Justice at The Hague and attend in person part of the hearings of the preliminary objections in the case "Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan)".

The group of students consisted of undergraduate and postgraduate students of our Law School, most of whom participated in the Jessup International Moot Court Competition and the All-European International Humanitarian and Refugee Law Moot Court Competition, in which our Law School excelled this year. The students were accompanied by Dr. Stavros Pantazopoulos and Dr. Efthymios Papastavridis, coaches of the respective teams and teaching assistants at the Law School.

During our visit to the Court, the students had the great honour and pleasure to discuss with the Registrar of the International Court of Justice, Mr. Philippe Gautier, Judge Dire Tladi, as well as associate legal officers, among whom our alumnus, Mr. Nikiforos Panagis.

Among the highlights of this educational visit was the meeting with the counsels of Armenia, including the Dean and Professor of the Law School of the NKUA, Mr. Linos-Alexandros Sicilianos. The Dean, together with the other counsels of Armenia, Dr. Konstantinos Salonidis, and Alison Macdonald KC, conversed with our students and their counterparts from the University of Oxford about the current case; responded to numerous questions from the students; and explained in detail the process of preparing the case and the role of the counsel before the International Court of Justice.

The overall experience of all the students was unique, and we would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to the Dean of the Law School and the Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for covering a significant part of the group's expenses.