Blackstone Human Rights Moot 2023

This year the Blackstone Human Rights Moot concerned problems of refugee protection, data appropriation and land expropriation. In the preliminary rounds teams argued both sides of the case before judges. Participating teams included undergraduate and BCL students, while the judges were human rights specialists on Oxford’s DPhil and Masters programs.

The top four teams advanced to the knock-out semi final rounds. These were (1) Luca Geary and Rivu Chowdhury, (2) Shivannii Arun and Lucy Ryder, (3) Emma Wilson and Kirsten Hay and (4) Aditi Tripathi and Sanjana Gunasekaran. After two strong semi-final rounds the finalist were announced as (1) Luca Geary and Rivu Chowdhury (Magdalen College) and (2) Shivannii Arun and Lucy Ryder (Merton College and Exeter College).

The final took place on the 4th March at the Sir Joseph Hotung Auditorium in Mansfield College, Oxford, before an esteemed panel of judges including Michael Beloff KC and Maurice Mendelson KC. After a hard-fought final, Luca Geary and Rivu Chowdhury emerged as the winners of the competition. The winners will now have the opportunity to compete in the international rounds of the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot to be held in July.

The Faculty would like to express their thanks to Blackstone Chambers for sponsoring the moot, as well as to the participants, clerks, judges and organisers who made the event possible.