Kenyan Law Students have beaten 38 universities in Africa to emerge winners of the 2021 African Human Rights Moot Court Competition.
Sidney Tambasi and Martin Kioko from the Kenyatta University School of Law won after beating the combined team of Stellenbosch University from South Africa and Eduardo Mondlane University from Mozambique in the finals.
The quarter finals, semi-finals and finals were held at the Stellenbosch University, Western Cape province, in South Africa.
The Kenyatta University team shared the victory stage with Ivory Coast’s Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in a format that sort to bring together one English-speaking team with one French-speaking team to form one group for either side of the finalists.
The two who are both fourth year students at KU were also finalists of last year’s Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition where they beat Oxford University (United Kingdom) in the semi-finals.
Speaking at Stellenbosch University, the winning duo thanked the Kenyatta University staff and the support team that steered them to victory. “We are greatly indebted to everyone that supported us and ensured that we make the podium finish,” said Tambasi.
The African Human Rights Moot Court Competition brings together students, scholars, practitioners, and leading jurists in Africa for a one week contest. The physical competition runs alongside a human rights conference which has a set date within the week for academics to present papers. This year’s theme for the event was tailored to focus on equality of all people in the face of Africa’s huge diversities.
This year’s competition marks a milestone that will see the event renamed from the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition to Cristof Heyns African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. This is in honour of Prof. Heys who was a human rights professor in Africa based at the University of Pretoria, and was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.