On 9 and 10 December 2017, the 7th International Forum for Contemporary Criminal Law was held in Zhuhai, China. Focusing on “New trends in the global terrorism threat and challenges to legislators and practitioners,” the gathering brought together a diverse group of over 70 participants from different regions of the world, including academics, police officials, legal practitioners, and legislators.
The forum was organized by the College for Criminal Law Science (CCLS), Beijing Normal University, and Beijing Normal University Zhuhai, as part of its collaboration with CCLS. The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) was invited by CCLS, which is a member of CTED’s Global Research Network.
Mr. Seif El Dawla, CTED Chief of Section, reiterated the importance of engaging with researchers from across the globe in order to incorporate a broad range of research perspectives into CTED’s work, including on identifying new and emerging terrorism trends and challenges.
“If the threat of terrorism is global, then so must our research network be,” he said.
Professor Bingzhi Zhao, Dean of CCLS and President of the China Society of Criminal Law, also stressed the importance of relationships between the United Nations and academia.
The participants addressed a spectrum of issues, including criminalization of terrorist acts, judicial matters, strengthening international cooperation, prosecution of foreign terrorist fighters; countering terrorism while respecting human rights, use of the Internet for terrorist purposes, and the links between terrorist groups and organized criminal networks.