Winners of the UN Moot Court Contest

Munyaradzi Makoni
Five out of 10 shortlisted universities - two from each of the five United Nations regions - were named winners this month of the first World Human Rights Moot Court held at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. The winning universities were from Brazil, Egypt, India, Switzerland and Ukraine.
Mock cases on discrimination, rooted on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and moulded for an international court, were judged in a competition to mark International Human Rights day on 10 December. The Moot Court celebrated the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with law students showcasing how they would fight human rights violations in a court of law.
The African region was won by American University in Cairo, Egypt, which competed against Université de Yaoundé II, International Relations Institute of Cameroon.
The University of Lucerne Law Faculty, Switzerland, beat Germany's Freie University for the Western Europe region. Eastern Europe saw the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Ukraine, take first position ahead of Hungary's Debrechen University.
The National Law School of India pipped Gujarat National Law University in the Asia category, while Latin America and the Caribbean produced Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo of Brazil as the winner ahead of Universidad Juarez Del Estado De Durango of Mexico.
UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Judge Navi Pillay, served as the first president of the Moot Court. The judging panel included former South African Chief Justices, Pius Langa and Arthur Chaskalson, advocate Jobi Makinwa, Civil Society coordinator of the UN Global Compact in New York, and George Mugwanya, senior counsel of the International criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Source: University World News, 06 January 2010