The 22nd Congress on the Law of the World (CLW) will be held in Beijing and Shanghai from September 4 to 10, said Justice Wan E'xiang, vice president of the Supreme People's Court, at a press conference on Thursday in Beijing. Wan is also secretary-general of the China Organizing Committee for the congress.

The CLW, sponsored by the World Jurist Association (WJA), will bring together 1,500 judges, prosecutors, lawyers, scholars and government representatives from around the world to discuss a variety of topics on the theme of "The Rule of Law and Harmony of International Society.

The opening ceremony and a demonstration trial will be held in Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Panel sessions will take place in both Beijing and Shanghai.

Scheduled panel discussions include international criminal law, the judiciary and the media, international terrorism, medical technology and the law, international environmental law and intellectual property rights law.

In the demonstration trial, lawyers from around the world will argue a hypothetical case before a panel composed of chief justices of different nations and justices from the International Court of Justice. Shi Jiuyong, president of International Court of Justice, will serve as the presiding judge.

The China Organizing Committee is headed by Chief Justice Xiao Yang, president of Supreme People's Court of China, and includes members of the National People's Congress, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Communist Party of China Political and Judiciary Commission, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Beijing and Shanghai municipal governments.

(China.org.cn by Wang Qian April 14, 2005)