News

Jul 18, 2021

East West University (EWU) Moot Court Team for the first time in the history of Bangladesh qualified for the knockouts in the 13th edition of the prestigious “Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition 2021”, also known as the World Moot. The team was comprised of Nusrat Jahan Nishat and Akhlak-Ul-Islam Tusar who are law students of the EWU. Md. Pizuar Hossain, Senior Lecturer in Law, EWU was the coach of the team. The World Moot 2021 brought together 37 teams from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and other regions in the preliminary rounds (oral). The EWU Team was the only team from Bangladesh that qualified in the memorial round (written) among one French, five Spanish, and thirty-one English teams.

The EWU Team ranked 2^nd in the preliminary rounds that took place on 3-8 July 2021 and qualified for the knockouts together with one Spanish and six English teams. Teams from twenty-three countries – Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Russian Federation – competed.

The EWU Team ended its journey in the knockouts by competing against one of the finalist teams of the competition. However, with the position of “2^nd Best Team” in the preliminary rounds, the EWU Team also achieved the “3^rd Best Memorial Award”. Besides, Nusrat Jahan Nishat achieved the “3^rd Best Oralist Award” and Akhlak-Ul-Islam Tusar obtained the place of “5^th Best Oralist” among 62 oralists in the competition.

Top 10 English Teams of Preliminary Rounds (as per rank):

1. Strathmore University, Kenya;
2. East West University, Bangladesh;
3. Kabarak University, Kenya;
4. Symbiosis School of Law, Pune, India;
5. University of Oxford, United Kingdom;
6. University of Sao Paulo, Brazil;
7. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, India;
8. University of Singapore, Singapore;
9. University of Malaya, Malaysia; and
10. Federal University of Bahia, Brazil.

Top 10 English Teams of Memorial Round (as per rank):-

1. Atma Jaya Catholic University, Indonesia;
2. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, India;
3. East West University, Bangladesh;
4. Centro Universitario Curitiba, Brazil;
5. Kutafin Moscow State Law University, Russian Federation;
6. African Nazarene University, Kenya;
7. National Law Institute University, Bhopal, India;
8. Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Switzerland;
9. University of Oxford, United Kingdom; and
10. The West Bengal National University of Juridical Science, Kolkata, India.

The Strathmore University, Kenya won the competition and the Universidad Central Del Ecuador, Ecuador became runner-up. The World Moot is the only global moot court competition explicitly dedicated to human rights. It is co-organised by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa; the Academy on Human Rights, Washington College of Law, American University; and the United Nations Human Rights Council Branch (HRCB), at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This competition is generally held in Geneva, Switzerland every year, but this year’s oral rounds were held virtually due to the COVID-19.

We would like to congratulate the EWU Moot Court Team on its achievement!