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"It was a great experience for all of us because there
aren't many chances
for international exposure," said MacLean, a
fourth-year honours economics student. "Going there to
represent RMC was a real thrill."
The four-day competition, hosted by the International
Institute of Humanitarian Law, helps cadets put their
textbook knowledge of the law of armed conflict into
practice, said Lt.-Cmdr. Patricia Goldman, a law
professor at RMC. "It's testing them on real-world
situations."
The Kingston cadets faced off against students
attending military colleges in the United States,
Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ukraine,
Sweden, India, Australia, Finland and Greece. Lt.-Col.
Marc Bernard Philippe, director of RMC's miliary legal
education faculty, accompanied the cadets on the trip.
The RMC team spent the first two days listening to
presentations and workshops by experts in the field of
armed conflict.
"They had lectures on the treatment of prisoners of
war, the treatment of civilians, targeting issues and
all of the things we teach members of our military,"
Goldman said.
Cadets put their knowledge to the test when they were
split into teams of three and asked to create peace in
a fictitious country on the verge of waging war.
The catch was that the RMC cadets had to solve the
crises with two cadets from other countries,
not
their classmates.
Each team was briefed on its country's background,
laws and treaties before brainstorming for possible
solutions.
The exercise is designed to simulate a United Nations
multilateral operation where foreign countries work
together to settle international conflicts.
A panel of judges evaluated the schools on how
accurate their strategies were for creating peace and
how well the cadets worked in their mixed groups.
Burke was paired with a female officer from Ireland
and a male officer from Sweden. "It was kind of
like a big game of Risk but with more of a focus on
the
legal aspects," said the fourth-year honours political
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science student. "We ran a war from start to
finish [and] dealt with targeting issues - for
example, whether or not it was legal to bomb a
church."
Several countries exercised similar humanitarian
strategies, Burke said. "It was actually really
interesting to find out how much we all have in
common."
The Russian and eastern European cadets brought new
strategies to the humanitarian effort, Burke said.
"We were a little bit more reserved and cautious while
they were more willing to take a chance," she said.
"I don't think there was a better way for us to apply
what we learned."
MacLean's group included a senior naval cadet from the
United States and a second lieutenant from Belgium.
The International Institute of Humanitarian Law, a
nonprofit organization, was founded in 1970. A liaison
chapter has since opened in Geneva, Switzerland.
Its primary focus is on encouraging talks between
governments, individual experts and institutions
concerned with humanitarian issues, according to
the institute's website.
"The institute itself teaches courses to members of
militaries around the world," Goldman said.
MacLean said it was thrilling to be named the top
school at the competition.
"There were a lot of other strong teams there but we
definitely brought our 'A' game to the event," he
said. "We had been practising for quite a while."
Before the competition, each cadet was responsible for
brushing up on the key concepts taught in RMC's course
on the law of armed conflict, MacLean
said. "And then we had a group session to make sure
everyone was set and ready to go."
MacLean said he traded e-mail addresses with several
of the cadets he met during the trip. "It's great to
have contact with people who are in the same boat as
you," he said. "It's cool to hear what their
perspectives are and what they're looking forward to
because we are going to be working together in the
near future."
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