Where is the Golden Dome Invitational held?

The Golden Dome Invitational takes place in South Bend, USA.

What level of participants is this event for?

The Golden Dome Invitational is designed for college-level participants.

What is the format of the Golden Dome Invitational?

The Golden Dome Invitational is a mock trial competition, involving simulated courtroom proceedings.

Golden Dome Invitational 2026

Feb 28 – Mar 1, 2026South Bend, United StatesIn-person

ConcludedRegistration closed

The Golden Dome Invitational is a collegiate mock trial competition held in South Bend, USA. This event provides a platform for university students to engage in simulated courtroom proceedings, honing their legal argumentation, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. Participants prepare and present both prosecution/plaintiff and defense cases, embodying attorneys and witnesses in a structured competitive environment.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the dominant committee topic. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the USA provides the legal framework and educational institutions that foster mock trial competitions, emphasizing adversarial legal traditions.

Role in topic

The USA is a prominent global leader in legal education and competitive advocacy, with a well-established mock trial circuit at both collegiate and high school levels. Events like the Golden Dome Invitational reflect the country's commitment to developing legal talent and promoting civic engagement through simulated legal proceedings.

Topics & background

The history behind each committee topic and the states that shape it.

General Assembly 1 (GA1)

Disarmament & International Security Committee (GA1)

The First Committee of the UN General Assembly addresses disarmament, global challenges, and threats to peace that affect the international community. Its 2026 agenda is dominated by the governance of emerging military technologies, particularly lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) and the militarization of outer space. Since the 2023 Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS within the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), states have remained divided over whether to pursue a binding treaty prohibiting fully autonomous lethal systems or to settle for non-binding principles emphasizing 'meaningful human control.' A coalition led by Austria, Brazil, and many Global South states pushes for prohibition, while major military powers including the United States, Russia, and China resist binding constraints that could affect their AI-enabled defense programs. In parallel, the outer space domain has seen a marked erosion of restraint. Direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) tests by China (2007), the United States (2008), India (2019), and Russia (2021) have generated debris and normalized counterspace capabilities. Negotiations on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) remain stalled at the Conference on Disarmament, while the 1967 Outer Space Treaty is increasingly viewed as inadequate for an era of dual-use commercial constellations, rendezvous-and-proximity operations, and on-orbit servicing. GA1 delegates will weigh verification mechanisms, transparency and confidence-building measures, and the relationship between commercial space activity and arms control obligations.

Key players

General Assembly 3 (GA3)

Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee (GA3)

The Third Committee of the General Assembly handles social, humanitarian, and cultural issues, including the bulk of the UN's human rights agenda outside the Human Rights Council. It produces country-specific resolutions (on the DPRK, Iran, Myanmar, Syria, and others), reviews reports from special rapporteurs, and adopts thematic resolutions on issues ranging from the rights of the child to freedom of religion or belief. Its work is shaped by deep ideological cleavages: Western states emphasize civil and political rights and country-specific scrutiny, while Russia, China, and many members of the OIC and African Group object to what they characterize as selective targeting and the politicization of human rights. In recent sessions, GA3 has confronted the humanitarian fallout of the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, the worsening protection environment for refugees and internally displaced persons, and the rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence as a human rights concern. The 2024 OHCHR report on AI and human rights and General Assembly Resolution 78/265 on safe and trustworthy AI have moved algorithmic accountability, online disinformation, and digital surveillance squarely onto the Third Committee's agenda. Climate-induced displacement, following GA Resolution 76/300 recognizing a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, is also pressing delegates to operationalize protection frameworks for populations not covered by the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Key players

World Health Assembly (WHA)

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, setting policy, approving the budget, and adopting binding instruments such as the International Health Regulations (IHR). The COVID-19 pandemic exposed severe gaps in global health architecture: inequitable vaccine distribution, slow pathogen-information sharing, and weak compliance with the 2005 IHR. In response, member states launched the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), which after years of contentious negotiations produced the WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025. Its implementation phase is now the central WHA agenda item, with continuing disputes over the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, technology transfer obligations, and financing for surge manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries. Beyond pandemic preparedness, the WHA is pressing on the unfinished business of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) following the September 2025 UN High-Level Meeting, antimicrobial resistance, mental health, and the health impacts of climate change. The Assembly also grapples with the financial sustainability of WHO itself after the United States announced its intent to withdraw in early 2025, a move that has reshaped contribution dynamics and raised questions about the organization's normative authority. Delegates must reconcile sovereignty concerns, intellectual-property regimes, and equity demands from the Global South.

Key players

Economic Social Council (ECOSOC)

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

ECOSOC is the UN's principal forum for coordination on economic, social, and environmental issues and oversees the follow-up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As the SDG midpoint passes with most targets off track, ECOSOC has become the venue where the development financing crisis converges with debates on digital transformation. A wave of sovereign debt distress has hit low- and middle-income countries: Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana, and others have defaulted or restructured, while many more spend more on debt service than on health or education. The G20 Common Framework, intended to coordinate creditor treatment, has been criticized as slow and inadequate, and a coalition led by African and Latin American states is pushing for a UN-led sovereign debt restructuring mechanism — a debate that will feed into the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4). The second major track is digital public infrastructure (DPI) and the implementation of the 2024 Global Digital Compact adopted at the Summit of the Future. Drawing on the success of India's Aadhaar–UPI stack and Brazil's PIX, member states are exploring how open, interoperable digital systems for identity, payments, and data exchange can accelerate SDG progress, while contending with risks around data protection, surveillance, and digital exclusion. ECOSOC must align its functional commissions, the regional commissions, and UN funds and programmes around coherent guidance.

Key players

Security Council (SC)

United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

The Security Council holds primary responsibility under the UN Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security, but it operates in an environment of deep great-power division. The Russian veto on Ukraine, the U.S. veto on Gaza ceasefire resolutions, and Russian and Chinese vetoes on Syria and DPRK sanctions have repeatedly paralyzed the Council, prompting renewed use of the 'Uniting for Peace' procedure and the 2022 General Assembly resolution requiring veto justification. The Council's 2026 docket spans the war in Ukraine, the Israel–Hamas conflict and broader regional escalation, the catastrophic civil war in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), instability in Haiti and the Sahel, and the management of UN peacekeeping drawdowns. Sudan is emblematic of the Council's challenges. Since fighting erupted in April 2023, the conflict has produced the world's largest displacement crisis, credible reports of ethnically targeted atrocities in Darfur, and famine conditions in multiple regions. The Council's existing arms embargo under Resolution 1591 (covering Darfur) is widely seen as ineffective, with external actors allegedly supplying both sides. In parallel, the Council is being drawn into cybersecurity questions following the conclusion of the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs, with members debating whether and how the 11 voluntary norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace should be reinforced through Council action when critical infrastructure is attacked.

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

Established by General Assembly Resolution 60/251 in 2006 to replace the discredited Commission on Human Rights, the Human Rights Council is the UN's principal intergovernmental human rights body. It conducts the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of all 193 member states, appoints independent special rapporteurs and commissions of inquiry, and adopts thematic and country-specific resolutions. Persistent fault lines run between Western states pushing accountability mechanisms for situations such as Russia in Ukraine, Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Iran, Myanmar, and the DPRK, and a sovereignty-focused bloc — anchored by China, Russia, Cuba, and Pakistan — that resists country-specific mandates and promotes 'dialogue and cooperation' framings. The Council's 2026 agenda highlights two structural shifts. First, the rapid diffusion of generative AI has pushed the OHCHR's B-Tech project and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression to call for binding standards on algorithmic accountability, content moderation under ICCPR Article 19, and biometric surveillance; some states propose a dedicated Special Rapporteur on AI and human rights. Second, following GA Resolution 76/300 recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, the Council is operationalizing that right for climate-displaced populations who fall outside the 1951 Refugee Convention, drawing on the Human Rights Committee's 2020 Teitiota decision and the 2024 ITLOS advisory opinion on climate obligations.

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before Golden Dome Invitational 2026, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Economic and Social Council Article 23 — Prohibition of Traffic in Human Beings and Forced Labour Beatrice Webb's Social Reform Crimes Against Humanity Customary International Human Rights Law Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Country profiles

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

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In the news

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Story

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Story

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Story

Trump's Economic Reset

Story

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

Golden Dome Invitational 2026

Feb 28 – Mar 1, 2026South Bend, United StatesIn-person

ConcludedRegistration closed

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the dominant committee topic. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the USA provides the legal framework and educational institutions that foster mock trial competitions, emphasizing adversarial legal traditions.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The history behind each committee topic and the states that shape it.

General Assembly 1 (GA1)

Disarmament & International Security Committee (GA1)

Key players

General Assembly 3 (GA3)

Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Committee (GA3)

Key players

World Health Assembly (WHA)

Key players

Economic Social Council (ECOSOC)

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Key players

Security Council (SC)

United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before Golden Dome Invitational 2026, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Country profiles

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

Country dossier

In the news

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Story

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Story

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Story

Trump's Economic Reset

Story

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

2025-2026 Santa Clara County Mock Trial Invitational

16th Annual University of Cincinnati High School Mock Trial Invitational

University of Denver Denver Duels Invitational 2026

Montgomery County High School Mock Trial Competition 2026

Great Chicago Fire Invitational XII

21st Annual Ramblin' Wreck Invitational Tournament

Related conferences

2025-2026 Santa Clara County Mock Trial Invitational

16th Annual University of Cincinnati High School Mock Trial Invitational

University of Denver Denver Duels Invitational 2026

Montgomery County High School Mock Trial Competition 2026

Great Chicago Fire Invitational XII

21st Annual Ramblin' Wreck Invitational Tournament

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

2025-2026 Santa Clara County Mock Trial Invitational

16th Annual University of Cincinnati High School Mock Trial Invitational

University of Denver Denver Duels Invitational 2026

Montgomery County High School Mock Trial Competition 2026

Great Chicago Fire Invitational XII

21st Annual Ramblin' Wreck Invitational Tournament

Related conferences

2025-2026 Santa Clara County Mock Trial Invitational

16th Annual University of Cincinnati High School Mock Trial Invitational

University of Denver Denver Duels Invitational 2026

Montgomery County High School Mock Trial Competition 2026

Great Chicago Fire Invitational XII

21st Annual Ramblin' Wreck Invitational Tournament