Surana & Surana JUDEX 4.0 Human Rights Law Moot Court Competition 2026

International human rights law emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War, anchored in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and given binding force through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), both adopted in 1966. Successive treaties addressing racial discrimination, torture, the rights of women, children, migrant workers, and persons with disabilities, alongside regional instruments in Europe, the Americas, and Africa, built a layered architecture of protection supervised by treaty bodies, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Universal Periodic Review process at the Human Rights Council. In recent years, this framework has come under strain from challenges its drafters did not anticipate. The OHCHR's 2024 report on artificial intelligence flagged risks that automated content moderation, predictive policing, and biometric surveillance pose to freedom of expression under ICCPR Article 19, due process, and non-discrimination, prompting calls for a binding framework on algorithmic accountability and even a dedicated Special Rapporteur. In parallel, General Assembly Resolution 76/300 recognised the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, raising urgent questions about how states must protect populations displaced by climate change, a category that falls outside the 1951 Refugee Convention. The contemporary debate centres on how to operationalise these expanding norms in a fragmented geopolitical environment. States disagree on the extraterritorial reach of human rights obligations, the responsibilities of private technology and fossil fuel corporations under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the enforceability of economic and social rights. The Moot's focus on Human Rights Law invites delegates to engage with this evolving jurisprudence, drawing on treaty bodies, regional courts, and the International Court of Justice's increasing engagement with human rights questions.