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The Sixth Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition will be held from 8 to 10 December 2014, at Palais des Nations in Geneva, and will bring together 45 participants from 15
universities in 12 countries, representing all 5 United Nations regions of the world.

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Teams from universities in the following countries have qualified to participate in the final round of the 6th World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which will for the first time be called the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition: Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Greece, India, Indonesia, Kenya,  Singapore, Slovenia, Poland, Switzerland and South Africa.

The Competition has been jointly organised by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.

All universities in the world are invited to participate, and fifteen teams selected on the basis of preliminary written rounds have been invited to Geneva for the pre-final oral rounds on 8 and 9 December 2014. Here, teams have to argue the two sides of a hypothetical human rights case, the Applicant and the Respondent, before a ‘bench’ of human rights experts.

The two best teams proceed to the final round, which is unique in being held in the Chamber of the Human Rights Council on 10 December, International Human Rights Day, 2014, presided over by
eminent international human rights law experts.

Judges in the Final Round are:

  • Ms Jane Connors (Australia) - Director: Research and Right to Development Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
  • Justice Dikgang Moseneke (South Africa) - Deputy Chief Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa
  • Ms Patricia O’Brien (Ireland) - Ambassador, Irish Permanent Mission, former UN Under-SG for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel
  • Justice Fatsah Ouguergouz (Algeria) - Judge and former Vice-President of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights
  • Prof Robert Roth (Switzerland) - Director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

This leading human rights educational event has been presented every year for the last five years. It is unique in bringing together some of the youngest and brightest law students from 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 aim of the Competition is to inspire and prepare young people from different parts of the world to engage with the global human rights system. In emphasising and supporting the role of young people from all parts of the world – including what is traditionally called the developing world – the Competition has shown its potential to make human rights a truly universal project. The distinctly Southern base of the competition will help to emphasise and consolidate the role of the South as an equal participant in the international protection of human rights.

  • Opening: 
    09:30, Monday 8 December 2014: Foyer, Palais Wilson
    Speaker: H.E. Baudelaire Ndong Ella, President of the Human Rights Council
  • Closing:
    10:00, Wednesday 10 December 2014: Room XX, Palais des Nations
    Speaker: Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commisioner for Human Rights

 

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