Celebrating 100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela, 70 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 10th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition hosted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was successfully held at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from 15 to 20 July 2017. The competition was presided over by senior judges and scholars in the field of human rights law, including Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, President of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Mogoen Mogoeng, Judge Julia Sebutinde from International Court of Justice, Professor Zdzislaw Kedzia who is the Vice-chairperson of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Judge Giorgio Malinverni who is a retired judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Prof Veronica Gomez who serves as the chairperson for Global campus of Human Rights and Ambassador Joel Hernández Garcia who is the Commissioner for Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Her Excellency, Ms. Kate Gilmore, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, attended the closing ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. Fudan University team achieved great success after going through fierce competitions against delegates from different countries and was remarkably ranked No. 12 on the global level, No. 3 in Asia, and the best in China.

Official Poster by the Steering Committee

With the great support of Fudan Law School and Fudan University Center for Human Rights Studies (National Human Rights Education and Training Base), Fudan moot team began preparations in October 2017. Under the guidance of Professor Lu Zhian, Professor Chen Li (female), Professor Tang Xianxing and Dr. Chen Li (male), Fudan team members were selected strictly after item-by-item scoring and public defense. The team was composed of coach Dr. Tu Yunxin who is a young constitutional scholar, 2015 undergraduate Ms. Yang Yuhan, 2015 undergraduate Ms. Chu Yimo, 2016 postgraduate Ms. Du Yiwei, and 2016 postgraduate Ms. Luo Hengzhe.

Fudan University team at Palais des Nations, Geneva

The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition is the world's most famous large-scale professional moot court competition in the field of human rights law, and is known as the "Olympic Games for Human Rights." In 2009, the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria, in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, organized the first World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which was later held each summer at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, and has been successfully held over the last ten consecutive years. The event is a high-level professional international mock trial for all universities around the world. The current official languages are English and French. The competition consists of both five preliminary rounds in regional tournaments and global pre-finals and final round. Regional tournaments are held in the five regions of the United Nations: Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, South America and the Caribbean, Western Europe and other regions. The global pre-finals and final round are held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. According to the official rules of the competition, the top ten teams in the first phase of the regional competition win the promotion of the second phase of the global pre-finals on behalf of the five major regions of the United Nations.

Over 170 teams participated in the 10th Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition, including Yale University (USA), New York University (US), Oxford University (UK), The Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po, France), University of Delhi (India), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), University of New South Wales (Australia) and other renowned universities. In the Asia-Pacific regional tournament, Fudan University team, Southwest University of Political Science and Law team, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong team stood out in the fierce competition, winning the top ten in the Asia-Pacific region and advancing to the top 50 in the world, attending the global pre-finals held at the United Nations Office in Geneva. Among the three Chinese teams, Fudan University and Southwest University of Political Science and Law are approved by the Ministry of Education as National Human Rights Education and Training bases. During the pre-final stage, Fudan University team rivaled against delegations from United States and Brazil, and was remarkably ranked No. 12 on the global level, No. 3 in Asia, and the best in China with an advantageous scoring of 84.81 points out of 100.

Chinese teams group photo at Palais des Nations, Geneva

The World Human Rights Moot Court of this year was based on a highly sophisticated hypothetical case involving various cutting-edge issues such as locus standi (standing), the right to life, prohibition on torture, women's rights, and protection of marriage and family rights. With 7-month relentless trainings and preparations, Fudan team members systematical studied and reviewed huge amount of cases from the UN Human Rights Committee, European Court of Human Rights, African Court of Human and People’s Rights, Inter-American Court of human Rights, South African Constitutional Court, United States Supreme Court, United Kingdom Supreme Court. Under the tutorship of the coach, Fudan team members have done intensive readings of the works by internationally recognized leading scholars and other relevant legal authorities, and therefore enriched their legal knowledge and mastered distinguished skills of court debating.

During the competition, Fudan team also participated in the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mandela held by the United Nations Office at Geneva at the Palais des Nations on July 18. United Nations Secretary-General His Excellency Mr Antônio Guterres delivered a video speech, His Excellency Mr. Michael Muller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, His Excellency Mr. Mogoen Mogoeng, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa, Her Excellency Ms. Desaico, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of South Africa to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Mr. Nelson who is the Vice President of the International Fourth World Movement NGO attended the ceremony and respectively delivered touching speeches. 

Fudan University team at Palais des Nations, Geneva

This year, Fudan University team stands out among various brilliant teams around the world, with its solid legal knowledge, excellent competence in oral pleading and remarkable team work. In the context of Fudan University’s "Double First-Class Plan" (which refers to "world-class university" and "world-class discipline"), Fudan Law School has enhanced its educational programme to cultivate outstanding creative international legal talents and has made enormous achievements in recent years. It is firmly believed that Chinese universities are committed to further achievements in the competition on the global level and make more contributions to the legal development and educational enterprise of human rights in China.