NUS Law’s best performance in formidable Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition

At the 2025 Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition, Emmanuel Wong Kai Xuan ’27 and TJ Rideshkumar’ 27 did NUS Law proud by advancing to the semi-finals, marking the first time the law school has done so.

This is all the more remarkable, considering the scale and scope of the competition. Participants from over 60 law schools across 20 countries argued in English, Spanish and Portuguese on issues of public international law and human rights law based on the unique Inter-American system. This moot is known for the interpreted oral rounds where English language submissions are translated in real time, in front of human rights experts acting as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

This year’s topic was on human trafficking and human rights, and the competition was held at American University’s Washington College of Law, located in Washington, DC, from 18 to 23 May.

Our students prevailed against their opponents in their sound arguments on gender discrimination, human trafficking, and human rights violations of unidentifiable victims. Meeting the challenges head-on, Emmanuel and TJ sought out databases in English, researched the unique nature and flexibility of the Inter-American court, and translated cases from Spanish and Portuguese to English.

“The Inter-American human rights system is a completely new legal system requiring not only basic principles of public international law and human rights law, but also a unique understanding of the Inter-American system’s function in Latin American jurisprudence,” said Emmanuel, adding that “finding workarounds to understand the law all whilst juggling Year 2 was a very big challenge”.

Another layer of complexity was that substantial rule changes were implemented, in conjunction with the competition’s 30^th anniversary celebration. As part of the new rules, each team participated in at least two preliminary oral rounds, as Victim and as State. Following each round, the judges announced the winner immediately after deliberation, and teams that lost both rounds were eliminated.

It was an uphill task to put up a strong performance, and Professor Eleanor Wong ’85, who tutored the team, said, “An English-speaking team has won the competition only twice in its entire history (the last time in 2014). Under these circumstances, I applaud the 2025 NUS team for their achievement in getting to the semi-finals, for their sporting spirit, and for embodying the NUS philosophy of approaching every competition as an opportunity to learn and grow.

“At NUS Law, our philosophy is to provide many opportunities to many students, including opportunities that are slightly off-the-beaten-path. The Inter-American Human Rights Moot is a good example. I should also note that, when the language factor is removed, NUS has done well, achieving awards for written submissions several times including Best (English language) Memorial for Victims in 2023.”

Significantly, the organisers worked closely with human rights specialists and attorneys from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which meant that the competition reflected what experts in the Inter-American System have thought about the applicable standards related to human trafficking and how to advance their development. This is especially crucial as the theme sits at the intersection of urgent social justice issues and human rights advocacy.

When asked about what made the difference in helping them pull ahead, both students were unequivocal in their gratitude to their coach, Manish Chamiraj ’24, friends and tutors who benched them, including Arjit Pandey ’22, Wang Qiyu Jerry ’21, Serene Cheong ’27, Caleb Lim ’27 and Professor Eleanor Wong ’85. “Their input, insights and encouragement have been so crucial and we would not be able to get where we are without their advice,” said Emmanuel.

He added, “Manish was our aide in memo writing and strategies for oral submissions. Prof El gave us useful feedback on improving advocacy, developing our advocacy styles, as well as simplifying our submissions to be intuitive and easy to understand.”

Since its inception in 1995, the competition has trained over 4,900 students and faculty participants from over 365 universities from the Americas and beyond.

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About IACHR

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere. It is composed of seven independent members who serve in a personal capacity. Created by the OAS in 1959, the Commission has its headquarters in Washington, DC.