University of Pretoria 2023 Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition

Published: 30 Dec 2022 1,369 views

The World Moot is open to undergraduate and masters students from all universities in the world. Teams of two students (gender diversity is encouraged) from every university in the world are invited to submit heads of argument for a hypothetical human rights case. The 50 teams with the highest memorial grades are invited to participate in the preliminary oral rounds and present their arguments to human rights experts and judges of international tribunals at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

The Moot Court Competition is the largest gathering of students, academics and judges around the theme of human rights in the world. The Competition is open to students around the world. A team of two students from each university – preferably one woman and one man (gender diversity is encouraged) – is invited to participate in the competition.

The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition is organised by the Centre for Human Rights based at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, in partnership with the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, American University Washington College of Law, and the United Nations Human Rights Council Branch (HRCB) at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

University of Pretoria Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition

Requirements for University of Pretoria Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition

• The Competition is open to undergraduate and master's degree students from all institutions of tertiary education in the world.

Selection Process

Selection Criteria

• The best 10 teams from each UN region are then invited to participate in the online preliminary rounds. Teams then have to argue the two sides of the hypothetical case, representing, alternatively, both the Applicant and the Respondent before a ‘bench’ of human rights experts.
• The 16 best teams proceed to the in person Octofinal rounds, which is presided over by international human rights experts. The Competition is presented in English, French and in Spanish.

The Fifteenth Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition adopts a hybrid format, with the in-person final rounds scheduled to take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from 18 – 21 July 2023 and the preliminary virtual rounds (online) scheduled to take place from 20 – 27 May 2023.

Application Deadline

How to Apply