Geneva Academy
31 May 2019
The Geneva Academy team – Anna Lochhead-Sperling and Paula Padrino Vilela who are currently enrolled in our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights – successfully qualified for the oral rounds in the Nelson Mandela moot court.
These will take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 15 to 19 July 2019. It is the first time that the Geneva Academy participates in this competition.
In order to qualify for the oral rounds, Anna Lochhead-Sperling and Paula Padrino Vilela had to write a long and detailed memorial, arguing a case study before a fictitious human rights court both in favour of the applicants and the government. They competed against other universities from the UN regional group Western Europe & Others which notably included Oxford, Yale and Harvard.
‘Participation in the Nelson Mandela moot court allows our students to develop litigation skills and procedural awareness which are absolutely necessary for practising human rights lawyers today’ underlines Pavle Kilibarda, Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy and Coach of the team.
The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition is organized by the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, in partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The pre-final and final rounds take place every July at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The best 10 teams from each UN region argue two-sides of a hypothetical case on issues of international human rights law before a ‘bench’ of human rights experts and judges from international courts and tribunals.
Two LLM students can participate following a competitive selection process carried out by a Geneva Academy jury. For selected students, participation replaces two optional courses and can be validated for 6 ECTS.
Geneva Academy
Natasha Floodgate, Geeta Mahapatra, and Thijs van der Horst will represent the Geneva Academy at the 47th edition of the Jean-Pictet Competition that will take place in Denpasar, Indonesia, from 22 February to 1 March 2025.
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Human Rights Platform is launching its 2025 training programme, designed to empower stakeholders engaging with UN human rights system.
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This side event represents a critical opportunity to reflect on the innovative approaches taken through the treaty body strengthening process and to consider the future direction of the treaty body system.
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The event, as part of the AI for Good Summit 2025 will explore how AI tools can support faster data analysis, help uncover patterns in large datasets, and expand the reach of human rights work.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This hands-on training is designed specifically for diplomats from Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries who are current or prospective members of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
This training course will delve into the means and mechanisms through which national actors can best coordinate their human rights monitoring and implementation efforts, enabling them to strategically navigate the UN human rights system and use the various mechanisms available in their day-to-day work.
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UN Photo/Violaine Martin
The IHL-EP works to strengthen the capacity of human rights mechanisms to incorporate IHL into their work in an efficacious and comprehensive manner. By so doing, it aims to address the normative and practical challenges that human rights bodies encounter when dealing with cases in which IHL applies.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy