What is the primary focus of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition?

The competition focuses on public international law, simulating a dispute before the International Court of Justice, and is designed for college-level participants.

Where will the global rounds of the competition be held?

The global rounds of the competition will take place in Toronto, CAN.

What level of education is required for participants?

The competition is open to students at the college level.

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2027

Mar 28 – Apr 4, 2027Toronto, CanadaIn-person

Registration open

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is a prestigious event for college students globally, focusing on international law. Participants engage in a simulated dispute before the International Court of Justice, presenting oral and written arguments on complex legal issues. The competition fosters a deep understanding of international legal principles and hones advocacy skills.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 3 countries stand on the dominant committee topic. Click through for the full country profile.

Canada

As the host nation, CAN provides the physical and logistical framework for the competition, fostering an environment for international legal discourse.

Role in topic

CAN plays a crucial role by hosting the global rounds of the competition in its city of Toronto, offering a neutral and accessible venue for participants from around the world. This facilitates international engagement and the exchange of legal ideas.

United States

The USA, as the country where the competition originated, has a foundational connection to its structure and ongoing legacy.

Role in topic

The competition originated in the USA, and its enduring presence reflects the country's historical influence on international legal education and advocacy. Many of the competition's foundational principles and procedural aspects draw from common law traditions.

Germany

DEU, as a prominent legal jurisdiction, contributes to the intellectual diversity and high standards of competition.

Role in topic

Universities from DEU frequently participate, bringing a distinct European legal perspective to the competition's proceedings. Their engagement enriches the legal arguments and interpretations presented, contributing to the overall academic rigor.

Topics & background

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

Gender Apartheid as a Crime Under International Law

The term 'gender apartheid' has emerged in international legal discourse to describe systematic, institutionalized regimes of domination and segregation imposed on the basis of gender, most prominently associated with the Taliban's governance of Afghanistan since its 2021 return to power. Successive Taliban edicts have barred women and girls from secondary and university education, most forms of employment, public parks, and travel without a male guardian, prompting UN Special Rapporteurs and the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls to characterize the situation as a possible crime against humanity. Similar concerns have been raised regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini and the subsequent crackdown on women protesting compulsory hijab laws. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court currently defines apartheid in Article 7(2)(h) by reference to racial groups, leaving an arguable lacuna for gender-based institutionalized oppression. Advocates, including a coalition of UN experts and civil society groups, have pushed for the explicit codification of gender apartheid in the draft Crimes Against Humanity treaty being negotiated at the UN Sixth Committee, and the ICC Prosecutor opened an investigation into alleged gender persecution by the Taliban, seeking arrest warrants in 2025. States remain divided on whether existing categories of gender persecution and apartheid suffice or whether a distinct crime should be codified. The debate implicates core questions of treaty interpretation, the principle of legality (nullum crimen sine lege), state responsibility for serious breaches of peremptory norms under the ILC Articles, and the obligations of non-recognition and non-assistance owed by third states. It also raises practical issues about humanitarian engagement, sanctions, and the recognition of de facto authorities that institutionalize gender-based oppression.

Key players

Mass Migration and State Obligations Under International Law

Mass migration flows, driven by armed conflict, persecution, economic collapse, and climate change, have produced some of the largest displacement crises since the Second World War. UNHCR data indicate that more than 120 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, including refugees from Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, Venezuela, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. The legal architecture, anchored in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions, and regional instruments such as the OAU Convention and Cartagena Declaration, has been strained by the scale, mixed character, and protracted nature of contemporary movements. The principle of non-refoulement, now widely regarded as customary international law and reinforced by Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and human rights jurisprudence, prohibits returning persons to territories where they face persecution or serious harm. Yet states have increasingly adopted externalization policies—offshore processing, third-country transfer agreements (such as the UK-Rwanda arrangement struck down by the UK Supreme Court in 2023), pushbacks at sea, and visa restrictions—that have been challenged before the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court, and UN treaty bodies. The 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees provide non-binding cooperative frameworks, but burden-sharing remains highly uneven, with low- and middle-income states hosting the majority of refugees. Emerging legal questions include the status of climate-displaced persons (following the Human Rights Committee's Teitiota decision), state responsibility for extraterritorial interdiction, the legality of instrumentalized migration as a hybrid threat (as alleged at the Belarus-EU border), and the interplay between sovereignty over admission and binding human rights obligations.

Key players

Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Context of International Sanctions

International sanctions—whether imposed by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII or by states and regional organizations such as the EU, US OFAC, and UK OFSI—have become increasingly complex, targeting individuals, entities, sectors, and dual-use technologies. The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into both the design and circumvention of sanctions regimes raises novel international law questions. On the implementation side, governments, banks, and shipping insurers deploy AI-driven screening tools to detect sanctions evasion, identify beneficial ownership, monitor dark fleet activity, and flag suspicious trade patterns, particularly in connection with Russia, Iran, the DPRK, and proliferation networks. At the same time, AI itself has become an object of sanctions and export controls. The United States, joined by allies including the Netherlands, Japan, and South Korea, has imposed sweeping controls on advanced semiconductors, AI chips, and model weights destined for China and other states of concern. The EU's AI Act, US executive orders on dual-use foundation models, and the Bletchley and Seoul AI Safety Summits reflect a converging recognition that frontier AI may have national security implications warranting restrictive measures. UN Panels of Experts have documented DPRK use of AI-enabled cyber operations and cryptocurrency laundering to evade sanctions. Key legal issues include the compatibility of unilateral AI-related export controls with WTO obligations and the principle of non-intervention, due process rights of listed persons subject to algorithmic targeting decisions, state responsibility for harm caused by automated sanctions enforcement, the application of international humanitarian law where AI-enabled sanctions affect humanitarian access, and questions of attribution when AI tools are used to circumvent measures.

Key players

Legal Consequences of Coups d'État

Unconstitutional changes of government have resurged in the 2020s, with successful coups in Mali (2020, 2021), Guinea (2021), Sudan (2021), Burkina Faso (2022), Niger (2023), and Gabon (2023), alongside attempted seizures of power elsewhere. While general international law has traditionally treated the form of government as a matter within domestic jurisdiction, regional and universal instruments have progressively developed an 'anti-coup norm.' The African Union's Lomé Declaration (2000) and Article 25 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter (2001), and ECOWAS protocols authorize suspension, sanctions, and even the use of force against unconstitutional regimes. The legal consequences of a coup engage multiple regimes: recognition of governments and credentials at the UN (as seen in the contested cases of Myanmar and Afghanistan since 2021), state continuity and treaty obligations, the validity of acts performed by de facto authorities, immunity of deposed and incoming officials, the application of international human rights and humanitarian law, and the lawfulness of regional enforcement action. ECOWAS's threatened intervention in Niger in 2023 and the subsequent withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger from the bloc highlighted the limits of regional coercion. Meanwhile, the ICJ and human rights courts have addressed related questions of state responsibility for serious breaches of fundamental norms. Contemporary debate focuses on whether a customary obligation of non-recognition attaches to regimes born of coups, how to reconcile self-determination with democratic entitlement, the legality of sanctions and asset freezes targeting junta members, the status of treaties concluded by unconstitutional governments, and the responsibility of third states that assist or legitimize such regimes.

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2027, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Artificial Intelligence Arms Race 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee 1591 Sudan (Darfur) Sanctions Committee 1718 DPRK Sanctions Committee 1737 Iran Sanctions Committee (terminated)1970 Libya Sanctions Committee

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2027

Mar 28 – Apr 4, 2027Toronto, CanadaIn-person

Registration open

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 3 countries stand on the dominant committee topic. Click through for the full country profile.

Canada

As the host nation, CAN provides the physical and logistical framework for the competition, fostering an environment for international legal discourse.

Role in topic

United States

The USA, as the country where the competition originated, has a foundational connection to its structure and ongoing legacy.

Role in topic

Germany

DEU, as a prominent legal jurisdiction, contributes to the intellectual diversity and high standards of competition.

Role in topic

Topics & background

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

Gender Apartheid as a Crime Under International Law

Key players

Mass Migration and State Obligations Under International Law

Key players

Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Context of International Sanctions

Key players

Legal Consequences of Coups d'État

Key players

Key terms & resources

The concepts worth knowing before Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2027, plus lessons and profiles to go deeper.

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

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Jessup Canadian Rounds – Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

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Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

Related conferences

28th annual Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark National Labour Arbitration Competition

Jessup Canadian Rounds – Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

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Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

Country perspectives

Topics & background

Key terms & resources

Frequently asked questions

Related conferences

28th annual Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark National Labour Arbitration Competition

Jessup Canadian Rounds – Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

Gale Cup Moot 2026

Gale Cup Moot 2026 (53rd Edition)

Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Moot 2026

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

Related conferences

28th annual Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark National Labour Arbitration Competition

Jessup Canadian Rounds – Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026

Gale Cup Moot 2026

Gale Cup Moot 2026 (53rd Edition)

Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Moot 2026

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2026