YLS Team Makes Final Round in Human Rights Competition

In December 2015, a team of Yale Law School students advanced to the final round of the 2015 Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. More than 100 teams from around the world entered the competition. A total of 16 teams from 13 countries were invited to Geneva, and only two teams made it to the final round. The final round was held before international judges and diplomats in the Chamber of the U.N. Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations. It was simultaneously interpreted into multiple languages of the United Nations. The Yale team consisted of Arielle Humphries ’17 and Peter Tzeng ’16.

The Yale Law School team was the only team from the United States invited to Geneva. In addition to making it to the final round, the team’s written memorials placed second in its U.N. Regional Group, which includes Australia, Canada, the United States, and all of Western Europe.

The Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria Faculty of Law organizes the competition every year. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our students not only to immerse themselves in the complexity of international human rights law, but to interact with law students from all over the world,” remarked Professor James Silk, who put the Yale team together over the summer. “Arielle and Peter did an outstanding job writing their memorials and preparing for oral argument, and their success in Geneva reflected it.”