What is the Corn Adomnáin?
The Corn Adomnáin is an International Humanitarian Law competition organised by the Irish Red Cross for those with an interest in this area of law. The competition gets its name from the Cáin Adomnáin or the ‘Law of Innocents’ as it is often referred to. The Cáin Adomnáin is an early Irish IHL treaty that was signed in Birr, Co. Offaly in 697AD.
The competition involves a fictitious case study of a conflict, and participating students take part in role-plays and simulations to explore key elements of IHL (e.g. use of autonomous weapons, urban warfare, protection of women and children, and healthcare). Their performance is evaluated by a judging panel composed of highly experienced persons in the field of international law.
The Corn Adomnáin offers students a rich and stimulating experience that allows them to develop their understanding of IHL and its application.
Entry Requirements
The competition is for students who are currently studying law in Ireland. Students will need to form teams of three and submit an application form to ihl@redcross.ie to take part.
Multiple teams from a university/institution can apply and we ask each institution to rank these applications if the competition is oversubscribed.
Team Resources
The Irish Red Cross provides specific resources for topics that will be covered in each year’s competition to assist teams with their preparations. The resources include reading lists and coaching and strategy tips.
There are also resources available from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including the How does law protect in war? database which includes updated information, cases, and references in a user-friendly format.
The Irish Red Cross is available to deliver a presentation about its work on IHL and this competition to interested institutions. If your institution wishes to avail of this, please contact us on the details below.
2026 Corn Adomnáin
The next Corn Adomnáin competition will take place in March 2026. Applications will open later this year. Please email ihl@redcross.ie if you have any questions.
You can read about our latest Corn Adomnáin IHL competition here.
Contact details for more information
For further information and inquiries about the competition, please email ihl@redcross.ie or call (01) 642 4600.
Last updated May 2025