The moot involves a written round after which teams are selected for the oral round. Teams argue a hypothetical case on issues of international human rights law in either English or French as if it will be adjudicated by a hypothetical International Human Rights Court, on the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other applicable (such as regional) human rights instruments[5]. A winner is announced for each United Nations world region.
The regional rounds are judged by distinguished legal academics and legal professionals from around the world. In the final round, the panel is made up of eminent jurists and judges from international tribunals and bodies such as the different regional human rights courts and UN human rights treaty bodies. The inaugural presiding judge was Navi Pillay[6][7] and Judge Mark Villiger of the European Court of Human Rights presided in the 2010 final [8].
Year |
Judge |
Recent Relevant Office |
2009[9] |
High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay (Presiding) |
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |
|
Ms Nicole Lewis |
Previously associate legal officer at the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia |
|
Justice Arthur Chaskalson |
Previous Chief Justice of the South African Constitutional Court |
|
Justice Pius Langa |
Previous Chief Justice of the South African Constitutional Court |
|
Mr David Johnson |
Senior official of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |
|
Advocate Olajobi Makinwa |
Solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria |
|
Professor Michelo Hansungule |
Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and a member of the Expert Advisory Group of UNIFERM |
|
Dr George William Mugwanyais |
Senior Appeals Counsel at the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda |
2010[10] |
Judge Mark Villiger (Presiding) |
Judge of the European Court of Human Rights |
|
Judge Anita Ušacka |
Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court |
|
Justice Florence Ndepele Mumba |
Former Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |
|
Ms Yanine Poc |
Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Southern Africa, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |
|
Mr Uli Parulian Sihombing |
Executive Director of the Indonesian Legal Resource Center |
2011[11] |
Mr Ibrahim Wani |
Chief Africa Branch/ FOTCD, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland |
|
Professor Martin Scheinin |
Professor of Public International Law, European University Institute, Florence, Italy and former UN special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism |
|
Judge Zak Yacoob |
Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Johannesburg |
|
Professor Ann Skelton |
Director, Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa |
|
Advocate Pansy Tlakula |
Chairperson, Electoral Commission, South Africa and member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights |
|
Professor Christof Heyns |
(Co) Director: Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa Faculty of Law University of Pretoria and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions OHCHR |