1. 28 UNILU AKTUELL· AUSGABE NR. 50 ·FEBRUAR 2015PANORAMA
Success at the World Human Rights Moot Court
Second best overall team and second best oralist: This is the very pleasing result
achieved by the participants Monica Alnes and Susanna Weinekötter from the University
of Lucerne at the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court (WHRMC) 2014.
■■ MONICA ALNES I SUSANNA WEINEKÖTTER
Participating in the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot
Court (WHRMC) 2014 was one of the best decisions we ever
made. This Moot Court did not only give us the opportunity to
expand our knowledge about human rights, but we were also
trained on how to present legal arguments in a confident and
convincing way. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to meet
some of the most recognized human rights experts in the world.
Finals at the United Nations
The Moot Court is organized as follows: Universities from all over
the world have the opportunity to submit written memorials in
response to a hypothetical case which covers a multitude of cur­
rent human rights issues. Each university chooses two students
to argue the case and write the memorials. The 15 best teams
are invited to present their oral arguments at the finals at the
United Nations in Geneva.
When the time comes to start writing the memorials, a lot of
reading and research is involved. The first week is usually allo­
cated to online research and long hours in the library to accumu­
late knowledge and case law. Once we decided which approach
to take, our coaches, Laura Ausserladscheider Jonas and Gabriel
Zalazar, gave us feedback on whether or not it was a good plat­
form to begin deep research and helped us organize our argu­
ments. Once the first draft was completed we started improving
it every day and incorporated the continual feedback we re­
ceived from our coaches. This entailed very hard work, late
nights, collaboration and most of all teamwork.
Pleadings learned by heart
Thanks to our hard work and diligence we were selected to go to
the finals in Geneva. This meant preparing our oral pleadings.
This part of the competition did not demand the same amount of
research as the memorials. However, the challenge was to learn
how to convince a panel of experts with legal arguments and
rhetoric. We met three to four times a week with our coaches to
practice pleading and also practiced by ourselves. We learned
how to present our arguments with confidence and in a convin­
cing way both for the State and the Applicant. Moreover, we
learned how not to be intimidated by the judges and how to
answer their very challenging questions in a way that would not
compromise our position. Finally, we learned our pleadings by
heart so that when the competition day came we did not have to
consult any paperwork and could plead freely.
This Moot Court was organized in collaboration with the United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In
Geneva we were able to have the competition in the Palais de
Nations. We met teams from all over the world which was fun and
enlightening. We plead twice a day for two days, in front of three
to four judges who were almost all representatives or employees
of the United Nations. We were very well prepared, thanks to our
coaches, and were very successful and represented the Univer­
sity of Lucerne the way we wished to. We ranked as the second
best overall team and Monica Alnes ranked second best oralist.
The finals were held in Room XX which of course was very im­
pressive. Our diplomas were given out by esteemed personalities
such as Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights and Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on
Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and many more.
Overall, even though this competition was very demanding, it
was an incredible experience that was worth above and beyond
the time and work that was involved.
Monica Alnes is a student of the «World Society and Global Governance»
Master’s programme at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at
the University of Lucerne. She is currently involved in a Special Procedures
Branch internship at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) in Geneva. Susanna Weinekötter is a Master student at the
Faculty of Law at the University of Lucerne.
Coach Laura Ausserladscheider Jonas, the two participants Monica Alnes and Susanna
Weinekötter plus coach Gabriel Zalazar (from left to right) with Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (in the middle).