The Centre is delighted to announce the successful presentation of the 7th edition of the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which was held at Palais des Nations – the seat of the United Nations Office in Geneva – from 8 to 10 December 2015.

The World Moot has been presented every year for the last 7 years, bringing together some of the youngest and brightest law students from universities all around the globe to debate burning contemporary human rights issues on the basis of a common UN human rights system, influenced by national and regional perspectives and experiences. The Competition is unique in reaching a broad base of participants, including from those parts of the world where regional human rights systems have not been established, or have only been recently introduced.

Group photo of the particpants of the 7th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition

n 2015, the World Moot brought together the following participants:

I. Africa
1. Kenya: Mount Kenya University
2. Lesotho: National University of Lesotho
3. South Africa: University of the Witswatersrand

II. Asia-Pacific

4.India: Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University
5.India: Gujarat National Law University
6.India: Symbiosis International University
7. Philippines: San Beda College

III. Eastern Europe
8. Belarus: International University of MITSO
9. Lithuania: European Humanities University

IV. Latin America & Caribbean

10. Argentina: University of Buenos Aires
11. BrazilL Universidade de Sao Paulo
12. Brazil: Universidade Federal da Bahia

V. Western Europe & Others

13.Israel: Hebrew University of Jeruselem
14. Switzerland: University of Lucerne
15. USA: Yale University
16. Australia: University of New South Wales

The opening ceremony was held on the evening of 7 December 2015, with participants and members of permanent diplomatic missions in Geneva being addressed by two keynote speakers -

• Mr Eric Tistounet, Officer-in-Charge, Human Rights Council Mechanism Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• HE Ambassador Joachim Rücker, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council

- who welcomed all participants warmly, while pointing out the privilege, opportunity and symbolism of being in the very building where real countries argue and debate real human rights issues.

In the World Moot, participating universities select two students who submit written heads of argument for a hypothetical case. In 2015, the case dealt with climate refugees, freedom of expression, racism in sport and the human rights of women. Experts assess these memorials and the best teams from each region are invited to travel to Geneva to participate in the pre-final rounds of the Competition. Here teams argue the two sides of the hypothetical case before a ‘bench’ of human rights experts. These pre-final rounds were held on 8 and 9 December 2015

At the end of two days of pre-final rounds, the two best teams – from two different UN world regions – proceed to the final round. The final round was held on 10 December 2015, InternationalHuman Rights Day, in the chamber of the United Nations Human Rights Council – officially known as the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room. Under the famous giant multi-coloured ceiling, a new generation of human rights lawyers, activists, academics, diplomats and civil servants gave a spectacular display of oratory skill and a mastery of international human rights.

In 2015, the following teams appeared in the final:

• Arguing the case for the Applicant:
  Yale University, USA
• Arguing the case for the Respondent:
  Universidade de São Paolo, Brazil

The judges in the final round were:

• Judge Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria)
  Judge and former Vice-President, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
• Judge Dragojlub Popovic (Serbia)
  Retired Judge, European Court of Human Rights
• Prof Cecile Aptel-Williamson (France)
  Senior Legal Policy Adviser, OHCHR; Associate Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
• Prof Robert Roth (Switzerland)
  Director, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
• HE Ms Patricia O-Brien (Ireland)
  Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Ireland to UNOG; Former UN Under-SG for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel

The Centre for Human Rights is proud to present the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition in partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and is especially grateful to the following persons who made it possible :

• Ms Yanine Poc, Regional Representative, Southern Africa Regional Office of OHCHR.
• Mr Eric Tistounet, Officer-in-Charge, Human Rights Council Mechanism Division, OHCHR.
• Mr Rolando Gomez, Public Information Officer, Human Rights Council Branch, OHCHR.
• Ms Zeynep Ceren Boztoprak and Ms Coralie Gervaise, interns, OHCHR.

The Centre for Human Rights is grateful for the financial contribution of the following donors to the realisation of the 7th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition:

• The Permanent Mission of the Swiss Federation, through Ms Barbara Fontana
• The Permanent Mission of Ireland, through Ms Nuala NiMhuichertaigh
• The OHCHR Regional Office for Southern, through Ms Katherine Liao

The keynote speaker at the closing ceremony was HE Ms Flavia Pansieri, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

RESULTS

1. PRELIMINARY ROUNDS – also known as memorial rounds

Top memorials:

1: Symbiosis Law School, Noida, India (82.50%)
2: San Beda College, Philippines (81.00%)
3: Gujarat National Law University, India (80.50%)
3: University of Lucerne, Switzerland (80.50%)

2. PRE-FINAL ROUNDS

2.1 Top teams

The top 5 universities from the preliminary rounds are:

1: Universidade de São Paolo, Brazil (87.63%)
2: University of Buenos Aires, Argentina (86.67%)
3: Yale University, USA (80.63%)
4: University of New South Wales, Australia (79.88%)
5: San Beda College, Philippines (79.58%)

2.2 Best oralists

Students are scored individually for their oral presentations in the preliminary rounds. The best oralist is the student with the highest individual score in the pre-final rounds.

1: Universidade de São Paolo, Brazil Ms Juliana da Cunha Mota (87.66%)
2: Universidade de São Paolo, Brazil Ms Leticia Machado Haertel (87.58%)
3: University of Buenos Aires, Argentina Mr Kevin Yannick Gerenni Luna (87.00%)

3. FINAL ROUND

3.1 RUNNERS-UP

Applicant: Yale University, USA

• Ms Arielle Humphries
• Mr Peter Tzeng

3.2 WINNER

Respondent: Universidade de São Paolo, Brazil

• Ms Leticia Machado Haertel
• Ms Juliana da Cunha Mota

For more information on the World Moot, the rules of procedure, the hypothetical case, and registration details, please visit: www.chr.up.ac.za/worldmoot