2 N.B. students only Canadians to compete in 2025 human rights, law competition in Switzerland

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 12, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 12

Two New Brunswick students are connected their mode to Switzerland to vie successful the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition.

The St. Thomas University brace are 1 of lone 24 teams competing successful the in-person rounds astatine the lawsuit successful Switzerland and the only team from Canada. 

Jazmyne Lebel of Quispamsis and Sydney Gallibois of Fredericton permission connected Saturday for the contention successful Geneva.  

"I was precise excited and arrogant of Sydney and I for each our hard enactment and dedication," said Lebel.

The Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition has assemblage students from astir the satellite reason a hypothetical quality rights lawsuit earlier planetary tribunals and quality rights experts. 

The apical 24 teams see a fistful of teams from India, a fewer teams from Kenya, and 1 squad each from the United States and the United Kingdom, among others.

According to St. Thomas University, it is the lone undergraduate schoolhouse to vie successful planetary moot tribunal competitions against instrumentality students already successful instrumentality school.

"It feels similar a truly large honour due to the fact that of however galore schools vie internationally and however varied everyone's inheritance is," said Gallibois.

"Since it's a batch of instrumentality students competing, we're up against radical that truly cognize their stuff. 

"So each of our dedication, hard work … we consciousness that overmuch much arrogant of it."

Gallibois said the process began astatine the extremity of January erstwhile a "fact pattern" was released, which she said is fundamentally a fake case. She said they wrote 2 ineligible briefs to correspond each broadside and were past accepted into the apical 50 teams.

They past competed successful oral arguments 4 times during a week-long period.

The 2 person since been practicing for the in-person rounds.

Lebel said it's besides been absorbing to larn astir the antithetic ineligible systems, since the 2 person chiefly competed utilizing American and Canadian instrumentality until now. 

"You find similarities successful each these antithetic ineligible systems, but also, antithetic countries whitethorn attack the aforesaid problems successful antithetic ways," said Lebel.

Lebel said each of the enactment has been worthy it due to the fact that it's mentation for instrumentality school, which they some privation to be aft their undergraduate programs.

Gallibois agrees. For her, the dedication is paying off. 

"The lawsuit whitethorn beryllium fake and hypothetical, but the acquisition we summation from it isn't, and it's thing that we tin use to our aboriginal endeavour of being advocates for people," she said.

"It's decidedly going to beryllium rewarding successful the end."