INTERNAL MOOT SELECTIONS MOOT PROBLEM- 2016

THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BRAVOS V. THE STATE OF VALYRIA

1. The Republic of Valyria is a developed democratic federal republic with a population of

approximately 500 million and a world leader in terms of GDP growth.
2. Some of the worlds largest telecommunication and ICT corporations are based out of
Valyria. The straight of Dorne separates Valyria from the State of Bravos, a developing
nation with a population of about 40 million and possessing about a fifth of the land mass
of Valyria.
3. Bravos is ruled by the dictatorial regime led by General Sanchez and does not hold general
elections or any other form of democratic process. The two nations have a history of
cordial relations with a large population of both countries sharing ethnicity. Bravos was
ruled by General Sanchezs father until the former took over in the year 2000 and was a
closed economy with bulk of its trade with Valyria. Before the economy was opened and
more companies were allowed the entire telecommunication infrastructure in Bravos was
provided by the two biggest companies of Valyria, who still have over 85% of the market
share.
4. General Sanchez, on coming to power, effected large reforms to make the economy more
business friendly and raise Bravos stature in the world. Amongst other measures, he made
Bravos a tax friendly nation where foreign remittances would be subjected to a minimal
tax levy. The stable political setup of Bravos with the new tax friendly environment made
Bravos a choice destination for corporations from all over the world to open shell
companies to avoid tax liabilities in their host countries.
5. Valyria has over the years been subject to a number of terrorist attacks and recently has
seen a number of incidents of online extremism.
6. As one of the measures against terrorism the Valyrian Foreign Intelligence Agency (the
FIA) collects intelligence outside of Valyria pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign
Intelligence Agency Act 1995 (FIAA).
7. Section 11 of the FIAA, titled Surveillance, grants the Director of the FIA (the
Director) the power to authorize surveillance, including electronic surveillance,
without a court order, to acquire foreign intelligence. The FIAA defines Surveillance
as the use or installation of electronic or other surveillance device outside Valyrias
territory, and/or the acquisition by such a device of the content of or other technical
information. The statute defines foreign intelligence as any information located or
emanating from outside Valyrias territory, which is relevant to the ability of Valyria to

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protect itself against any actual or potential threat to its national security or the ability of
Valyria to conduct its economic and foreign affairs.
8. Section 12 of the FIAA provides for, titled Safeguards and Limitations, sets forth certain
limitations on the FIAs surveillance activity. First, surveillance may not be authorized by
the Director whenever there is a substantial likelihood that information acquired thereby
will include any communication to which a citizen of Valyria is a party. Second, it
establishes a nine-member National Security Tribunal (the Tribunal) comprising of
former directors of the FIA, former bureaucrats and former judicial member of Valyrian
Supreme Court, which must review all electronic surveillance conducted under the FIAA
every three months. Proceedings before the Tribunal are in camera, but the Tribunal is
authorized to call on technical experts, academics, and NGOs to participate. Third, a
Parliamentary Committee for Surveillance Oversight is created, with access to all
information relating to the FIAs operations, and the capacity to launch independent
investigations and to summon the FIAs Director and other personnel to appear before it.
9. Over the years, many nations began to protest at the secrecy maintained by Bravos with
regards to the details of the corporations registering themselves in the State. Many called
for greater transparency as to what activities were the funds being utilized as there were
fears that Bravos new tax free economy was surreptitiously promoting illegal activities
such as tax evasion, drug trafficking and terrorism.
10. On 13th January 2015, news broke out in Valyria regarding various shell companies being
registered within the territory of Bravos. The news disclosed that shell companies were set
up with funds originating from all over the world, some of the funds from certain shell
companies were also reported to have been used in financing terrorism including some
organisations which were involved in terrorist activities in Valyria and the global cocaine
trade. The information was unearthed from Hagar & Co. a financial services firm
specializing in incorporating companies and trusts in Bravos, for foreign investors with
many famous personalities, including A-list actors and heads of state being named in the
scandal as the investors in these shell companies. The news soon travelled across the
globe and caused uproar the world over with various sections of the public in the nations
wherein heads of states were implicated in the scandal calling for their resignation. Jaggen
Hagar, the partner of Hagar & Co. released a statement saying:
Our firm, like many firms, provides global registered agent services for our
clients (e.g., lawyers, banks, and trusts) who are intermediaries. As a
registered agent we merely help incorporate companies, and before we
agree to work with a client in any way, we conduct a thorough due-diligence
process, one that in every case meets and quite often exceeds all relevant
local rules, regulations and standards to which we and others are bound.

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On 17th January 2015, a whistleblower who was a deputy director of the Valyrian FIA
stated that the FIA has been engaging in mass surveillance on the Bravosian government,
corporations and citizens with the help of its telecommunication companies and he had
supplied the documents to news agencies to break the story of shell companies.
11. The following day, Bravos Minister for Foreign Affairs released a statement saying:
Bravos is deeply alarmed and troubled by reports that Valyria has, for
decades, engaged in a concerted surveillance campaign targeting our
citizens and violating our territorial integrity and political independence. It
is clear that Valyria has been engaging in a deliberate surveillance
programme and unearthed information in violation of all principles and
ethos governing relations between states. These offenses against our
sovereignty were purely politically motivated and had no public order
implications. Any claims that such programs are necessary to combat
terrorism are simply farcical. Regardless of how severe were any
perceived threat to Valyrias national security, there was absolutely no
justification for the systematic infringement of our citizens privacy. Mass
electronic surveillance of our people and institutions violates Valyrias
obligations under the U.N. Charter and fundamental human rights
guaranteed to every citizen.

12. On the other hand, the Valyrias Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying:
Crooks do not enjoy rights to privacy, the fact that many of these so called
investors are friends and abettors of terrorism goes to show that the
surveillance was in the national interests of Valyria and the entire world in
the war against terrorism. We request Bravos to immediately share all
information pertaining to shell companies with the Financial Action Task
Force so that immediate corrective action can be taken and the perpetrators
brought to justice otherwise the actions of Bravos are in direct violation of
international law as it is allowing its territory to be used for the financing of
terrorist activities.

13. In the meantime a group of ethical hackers and privacy advocates Nameless which
according to news reports have members including persons from government and armed
forces of Brovasia in their non- official capacity, used a malicious programme to disrupt
the operation of the firewalls of certain FIA facilities and intercepted and downloaded the
information stored in its servers and released it over the open web to show the extent of
surveillance which included various heads of states, the UN, embassies of various State,
judges of ICJ etc. This caused parts of the surveillance system to go offline for an hour.
The attack also shut down a power plant in one of the districts of Valyria thereby causing
power outage in various parts and killing 15 people in an ICU in a State hospital. The
Valeryian Technical Institute was asked to analyse the source of the alleged cyber-attack.
The Institute based on its research and analysis concluded that the malware used in the
hacking of the computers has been traced to IP addresses within Bravosianian territory.
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Nameless also targeted a number of other institutions including the site of the national
railway, the largest bank of Valyria and the government owned television network and
newspaper. All these websites were down for a period ranging from 2-12 hours.
14. Terming it as an armed attack Valyria authorized a drone strike in Bravos based on an
intelligence that 10 members of Nameless were meeting at one of the members house.
However, the house was in the middle of a civilian locality and killed 250 persons, and
wounded 100 more.
15. Bravosia immediately lodged a protest with Valyria stating that there was no armed
conflict between the states. Valyria denied targeting innocent civilians and termed it as
collateral damage in its fight to defend itself and its people.
16. In mid-2015, diplomats from Valyria and Bravos began meeting in an attempt to settle
their differences. After two weeks of negotiations, the parties were unable to reach any
agreement. In light of growing international pressure, Valyria and Bravos agreed to refer
all matters in dispute to the International Court of Justice.
17. Valyria and Bravos are both members of the United Nations, and are parties to the Statute
of the International Court of Justice; the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties; the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights; the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations;
the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and
additional Protocols I and II thereto, the International Convention for the Suppression of
Terrorist Bombings, and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing
of Terrorism. Neither state has made any reservations, declarations or understandings with
regard to any of these treaties.

APPLICANT PRAYS:
(a) The mass electronic surveillance programs of Valyria violates international law and
Articles 17, 19, 21 and 22 of the ICCPR,
(b) The cyber attacks against certain facilities and sites in Valyria cannot be attributed to
Bravos, and in any event did not constitute an internationally wrongful act, and
(c) The state of Valyria is in breach of international law for the drone attack on the
civilian population.

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RESPONDENT PRAYS:
(a) That the surveillance was done in national interest in wake of national security
concerns and as such, the same does not violate any international norms,
(b) The cyber attacks against certain facilities and sites in Valyria are attributed to
Bravos, and constitute an internationally wrongful act, and
(c) State of Valyria is not liable under international law for the drone attack and for the
consequent loss of life and property.