CASS Forum 2023 (20th International Law Forum), organized by CASS Institute of International Law, was successfully held in Beijing on November 25-26, 2023. The forum took “Global Development Initiative and International Law: Consistency and Innovation” as its theme and was attended either online or offline by about 50 experts and scholars from various universities and research institutions in China, US, Canada, Greece, Italy, and Brazil.

At the opening ceremony of the forum, opening speeches were given by Huang Jin, President and Professor of the Chinese Society of International Law, Georgios KatrougKalos, Professor of Public Law at Democritus University of Thrace and Former Foreign Minister of Greece, Liu Huawen, Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of International Law of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Member of the United Nations Committee Against Torture, and Fabio Marcelli, Senior Professor and Former Director of the Institute for International Legal Studies of the National Research Council and Co-president of the Center of Research and Elaboration for Democracy in Italy.

At the keynote speech session of the forum, Professor Georgios KatrougKalos, Professor Liu Huawen, Professor Morten Kjærum (Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law), Professor Zhao Jianwen (a research fellow at the Institute of International Law of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Professor Fabio Marcelli, Professor Chen Weizuo (Dean of the Institute of International Dispute Resolution and a professor at the School of Law, Tsinghua University), Professor Sun Shiyan (a research fellow at the Institute of International Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Professor Zhang Ling (Deputy Dean of the School of International Law of China University of Political Science and Law) each gave a keynote speech on “the Necessary Reforms of International Law for a More Democratic and Equitable World Order”, “the Golden Rules and International Law”, “75 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Retire or Reinvigorate”, “the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative and the Development of International Development Law”, “Present Challenges of International Law: Wars, Climate Change, Pandemics”, “Contemporary Development and Legislative Modernization of International Commercial Arbitration”, “The Universal Periodic Review Mechanism of the Human Rights Council and Customary International Law” and “Recognition and Enforcement of Bankruptcy Related Judgments”, respectively.

At the next session of the forum, which was divided into four panels, participants gave presentations and carried out discussions on various issues around the topics of “Innovative Exploration of Rule of Law in International Relations”, “Theory and Practice of the Construction of Foreign-related Legal System”, “Institutional Construction for High-Quality Development in Emerging Fields” and “Promoting the Inclusive Development of Global Human Rights Governance”.