TWO THOMASIANS made it to the semi-finals of the 17th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, an annual global event dedicated to international human rights law.
UST Civil Law students Exelcis Bernal and Joelle Joie Cruz were able to reach the penultimate round before falling short alongside the Symbiosis Law School from India during the competition’s advanced rounds held from July 14 to 18 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Also representing the Philippines was San Beda University, who was unable to progress to the quarter finals.
Bagging the top spot in the competition is Midlands State University in Zimbabwe, who bested the University of Colombia.
Schools from Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Guatemala, Kenya, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States also joined the competition.
For the contest’s latest edition, the case focused on the constitutionality of an immigration act imposed by a fictional state known as Legacy.
The 24 qualifiers for the advanced rounds were first shortlisted through a summary of their arguments upon application, followed by an online preliminary round of the top 50 teams from different regions of the United Nations from May 6 to 12.
Each advanced round consisted of two educational institutions, one acting as the applicant of the case and the other as the respondent, who must discuss their points and defend their side to a panel of human rights experts.
First hosted in 2009, the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition is an annual contest featuring teams from academic institutions across the world who must argue over a hypothetical case that covers timely human rights issues. F
