What is the eligibility level for participants in the Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival?

The festival is designed for college-level participants, providing an academic challenge tailored to their stage of legal education.

Where is the Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival held?

The festival takes place in Cleveland, USA, offering a specific North American location for this unique legal competition.

2027 Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival

Apr 2–3, 2027Cleveland, United StatesIn-person

Registration open

The Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival offers a unique platform for college-level participants to engage with legal principles in the context of the music industry. Held in Cleveland, USA, this event challenges participants to hone their advocacy skills and understanding of complex legal issues relevant to the rock and roll world. It provides an immersive experience that blends legal scholarship with cultural relevance.

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 cultural and legal framework for the festival, reflecting its significant role in the global music industry and the development of entertainment law.

Role in topic

The USA is central to the event as the host country, with the festival taking place in Cleveland. Its legal system, particularly in areas of intellectual property and contract law, forms the basis for the moot court problems. The USA's rich history in rock and roll music further contextualizes the event's theme.

Topics & background

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

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war since April 2023, when fighting erupted in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ('Hemedti'). The conflict is rooted in the unfinished 2019 transition that followed the ouster of Omar al-Bashir: a power-sharing arrangement collapsed in the 2021 coup, and subsequent negotiations over RSF integration into the regular army broke down violently. Combat has since spread from the capital to Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira, with reports of ethnically targeted killings in West Darfur echoing the atrocities of the 2003-2005 genocide. The humanitarian toll is now the largest displacement crisis in the world, with more than ten million people internally displaced and several million more having fled to Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Famine conditions have been confirmed in parts of Darfur, and humanitarian access remains obstructed by both belligerents. External actors complicate the picture: the United Arab Emirates has been widely reported to back the RSF, while Egypt and, more ambivalently, Saudi Arabia have leaned toward the SAF; Russian-linked networks remain active in the gold trade. In the Council, the existing arms embargo on Darfur under Resolution 1591 (2005) is widely seen as ineffective, and a March 2024 ceasefire resolution was vetoed by Russia. The ICC retains jurisdiction over Darfur under Resolution 1593 (2005) and has opened new investigations into the current conflict. Delegates will weigh embargo expansion, monitoring mechanisms, humanitarian corridors, and the prospects for a Council-mandated political process.

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

State and state-sponsored cyber operations against critical infrastructure have escalated sharply over the past decade. Landmark incidents — the 2015 and 2016 attacks on Ukraine's power grid, the 2017 NotPetya campaign that caused over USD 10 billion in global damages, the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware shutdown, and persistent intrusions into water utilities, hospitals, and election systems — have eroded any clean line between peacetime espionage and acts that threaten international peace and security. The Russia-Ukraine war has further normalised wiper malware and attacks on civilian telecoms and energy. The normative framework has developed largely outside the Council. The 2015 GGE report endorsed eleven voluntary norms of responsible state behaviour, including a prohibition on attacks against critical infrastructure and CERTs, and affirmed that international law — including the UN Charter and IHL — applies in cyberspace. The Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs, running through 2025, has broadened participation but produced only incremental consensus, with sharp divides over a proposed permanent UN cyber mechanism and over whether new binding treaty law is needed. The Council itself has held several Arria-formula and open debates on cyber threats but has never adopted a substantive resolution. Delegates must grapple with attribution standards, the threshold at which a cyber operation constitutes a use of force or armed attack, protection of humanitarian and medical data, and the role of private cybersecurity firms and cloud providers — all against a backdrop of deep mistrust among the P5.

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing Cross-Border Data, AI, and Platform Power

The concept of 'digital sovereignty' has moved from an EU policy slogan to a contested organising principle of global governance. Three structural shifts drive the debate: the concentration of cloud, AI, and platform infrastructure in a handful of US and Chinese firms; the proliferation of national data-localisation and content laws (China's Cybersecurity Law and DSL, India's DPDP Act, the EU's GDPR/DSA/DMA/AI Act, and a wave of African and Latin American frameworks); and the strategic securitisation of semiconductors and undersea cables. Multilateral efforts have struggled to keep pace. The 2024 Global Digital Compact, adopted as part of the Pact for the Future, set out commitments on connectivity, data governance, and AI, and called for an International Scientific Panel on AI and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance. UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and the Council of Europe's 2024 Framework Convention on AI offer normative anchors, while ITU and WTO e-commerce talks remain bogged down over data flows. Meanwhile, export controls on advanced chips, restrictions on TikTok and other platforms, and competing 'tech stacks' have made digital policy inseparable from geopolitics. The core dispute is whether to pursue an interoperable, rights-based global digital order, or to consolidate regional blocs in which states assert primary jurisdiction over data, infrastructure, and online speech. Delegates must address cross-border data flows, AI safety and accountability, platform liability, equitable access to compute, and the position of states that host neither the infrastructure nor the firms shaping the rules.

Key players

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Economic and Social Council: Sovereign Debt Distress in the Developing World

A sovereign debt crisis is unfolding across much of the Global South. According to UNCTAD and the World Bank, roughly 3.3 billion people now live in countries that spend more on debt service than on health or education. The pandemic, the post-2022 surge in US interest rates, currency depreciations, and rising food and energy import bills have pushed Zambia, Sri Lanka, Ghana, and Ethiopia into default since 2020, while many others teeter on the edge. The creditor landscape has also shifted dramatically: bondholders and China together now hold a far larger share of developing-country external debt than the traditional Paris Club. The G20 Common Framework, launched in 2020, was meant to coordinate restructurings across this fragmented creditor base, but has been criticised for slow timelines, weak comparability-of-treatment enforcement, and lack of automatic debt-service standstills. Calls for a UN-led sovereign debt workout mechanism — first raised in the 2014-15 General Assembly resolutions on debt restructuring — have re-emerged forcefully, championed by the African Group, CARICOM, and the V20 climate-vulnerable countries. The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in 2025 placed debt architecture reform squarely on the agenda. ECOSOC's role is to provide the multilateral forum where development, debt, and SDG financing intersect. Delegates will negotiate proposals on debt transparency, climate-resilient debt clauses, multilateral development bank capital adequacy, credit-rating reform, and the contested question of whether to support a binding UN convention on sovereign debt.

Key players

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

The deliberate destruction and looting of cultural heritage has been a recurring feature of recent conflicts: the dynamiting of the Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, ISIL's demolitions at Palmyra, Nimrud, and Mosul between 2014 and 2017, damage to Old Sana'a in Yemen, the burning of manuscripts in Timbuktu, and extensive damage to historic sites in Ukraine and Gaza since 2022. These acts are prohibited under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols, and may constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute, as confirmed in the ICC's 2016 Al Mahdi conviction. UNESCO's normative arsenal — the 1954 Hague Convention, the 1970 Convention against illicit trafficking, the 1972 World Heritage Convention, and Security Council Resolution 2347 (2017) — is broad but unevenly ratified and weakly enforced. Practical gaps persist around real-time monitoring of damage, the protection of intangible heritage and living cultural practices, the return of looted objects (a debate sharpened by colonial-era restitution claims), and the use of cultural heritage in disinformation and identity-based violence. Delegates will consider strengthening the 'enhanced protection' regime under the 1999 Second Protocol, expanding UNESCO's emergency response capacity, addressing the online trade in looted antiquities, and clarifying obligations on occupying powers and non-state armed groups. The discussion is inseparable from broader debates on restitution, digital reproduction of heritage, and the politicisation of World Heritage listings.

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Environment Programme: Negotiating a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Global plastic production has roughly doubled since 2000 to more than 400 million tonnes per year, of which only around 9 percent is recycled. Plastic waste is found in deep-ocean sediments, Arctic ice, human placentas, and drinking water, and the OECD projects production could triple again by 2060 on current trends. UNEA Resolution 5/14, adopted in March 2022, mandated an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, by end-2024. Five INC sessions in Punta del Este, Paris, Nairobi, Ottawa, and Busan have exposed a fundamental cleavage. A 'High Ambition Coalition' led by Rwanda, Norway, the EU, and many small island states seeks binding global caps on primary plastic polymer production, bans on problematic chemicals and single-use products, and a full-lifecycle approach. A bloc of major oil and petrochemical producers — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and to varying degrees the United States and China — has resisted production caps, favouring downstream waste-management and voluntary measures. The Busan session in late 2024 ended without a final text, with negotiations extended into 2025. UNEP delegates must work through the treaty's contested architecture: scope (production vs. pollution), financing mechanisms for developing countries, treatment of legacy waste and trade in plastic scrap (intersecting with the Basel Convention), and the role of industry and informal-sector waste pickers. The outcome will shape petrochemical investment for a generation.

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

World Health Assembly: Implementation of the Pandemic Agreement and Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing

After more than three years of negotiation under the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025, alongside earlier amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005). The Agreement is the first treaty negotiated under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution since the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and responds to the manifest inequities of the COVID-19 response, including vaccine hoarding, export restrictions, and the slow operation of COVAX. Central to the Agreement is a proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system: in exchange for rapid sharing of pathogens and genetic sequence data by countries where outbreaks emerge, manufacturers participating in PABS would make a defined share of pandemic products (vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics) available to WHO for equitable allocation, with additional commitments on technology transfer, local manufacturing, and a coordinating financial mechanism. Many of these provisions, however, were deferred to a subsequent annex still being negotiated, and the Agreement will only enter into force after the PABS annex is concluded and sufficient ratifications are deposited. Key disputes persist over the binding nature of technology transfer ('mutually agreed terms' vs. stronger obligations), the percentage of products to be allocated through PABS, the relationship with TRIPS and the WTO, and the geographic distribution of manufacturing capacity. Delegates must also address financing, One Health surveillance, and the misinformation/sovereignty concerns voiced by several member states during ratification debates.

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Since the public release of large generative AI models in late 2022, the human-rights implications of AI have moved from a niche concern to a central agenda item across the UN system. OHCHR's B-Tech project, the High Commissioner's 2021 and 2024 reports on AI, and the work of the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and expression, on privacy, and on minority issues have catalogued risks including discriminatory training data, opaque automated decision-making in welfare and migration, large-scale surveillance, non-consensual intimate imagery, and AI-generated disinformation targeting elections and minorities. The normative landscape is rapidly thickening but fragmented. UNESCO's 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of AI provides a global ethical baseline; the Council of Europe's 2024 Framework Convention on AI is the first binding international treaty in the field; the EU AI Act entered into force in 2024; and the 2024 Global Digital Compact commits states to align AI governance with international human-rights law. HRC resolutions on the right to privacy in the digital age (most recently A/HRC/RES/54/21) and on new and emerging digital technologies have set the stage for further action, including proposals for a dedicated Special Rapporteur on the human-rights implications of AI. Delegates must determine how existing instruments — particularly ICCPR Articles 17 and 19, ICESCR, CEDAW, and CERD — apply to model developers, deployers, and procuring states; how to ensure remedy for algorithmic harms; the obligations of states regarding export of surveillance and biometric systems; and the relationship between AI governance, freedom of expression online, and the digital divide.

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before 2027 Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Community Forest Resource Rights Absolute Sovereignty Article 23 — Prohibition of Traffic in Human Beings and Forced Labour Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)Beatrice Webb's Social Reform Bilateral Security Agreement

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

2027 Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival

Apr 2–3, 2027Cleveland, United StatesIn-person

Registration open

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 cultural and legal framework for the festival, reflecting its significant role in the global music industry and the development of entertainment law.

Role in topic

Topics & background

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

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and the Protection of Critical Infrastructure

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing Cross-Border Data, AI, and Platform Power

Key players

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)

Economic and Social Council: Sovereign Debt Distress in the Developing World

Key players

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Environment Programme: Negotiating a Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

World Health Assembly: Implementation of the Pandemic Agreement and Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights Council: Human Rights in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before 2027 Rock and Roll Moot Court Festival, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

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IBA ICC Moot Court Competition – North American Regional Round 2026

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Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition 2026 – North American Regional Round

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IBA ICC Moot Court Competition – North American Regional Round 2026

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Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition 2026 – North American Regional Round

The Hicks Thomas LLP Moot Court National Championship 2026

2026 Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition

38th Annual Domenick L. Gabrielli National Family Law Moot Court Competition

IBA ICC Moot Court Competition – North American Regional Round 2026

International Criminal Court Moot Competition 2026

Related conferences

Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition 2026 – North American Regional Round

The Hicks Thomas LLP Moot Court National Championship 2026

2026 Van Vleck Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition

38th Annual Domenick L. Gabrielli National Family Law Moot Court Competition

IBA ICC Moot Court Competition – North American Regional Round 2026

International Criminal Court Moot Competition 2026