HR4RS stamp
Raul Garcia Hemonnet
The main objective of this Congress, which ends today at the Madrid campus (Vicálvaro), was mainly, explains Julia Ropero, professor of Criminal Law and one of the directors of the Congress, "to set up an international discussion forum on a topic of relevance capital as is the challenge of international terrorism”.
The event has been structured in three days, addressing the issue from the point of view of the relationship with migratory movements and flows, the limits of Criminal Law in anti-terrorist matters and the use of criminal intervention compared to other instruments when it comes to combat this type of terrorism.
This approach, as Professor Ropero explains, has sought “not to limit ourselves to understanding terrorism solely as a security problem. The treatment of international terrorism raises many other questions that have tried to be addressed: how the international community should build its response, how can it work for security without diminishing the protection of freedoms, including the right to migration or asylum and refuge, or what are the most effective and balanced social, penal and penitentiary policies”.
Speakers from Spain, France and Syria
For this, they have speakers of recognized prestige, such as university professors (from Spain and France) in Law, Political Science, representatives of international organizations, the police, and also, "warning the difficult situation in Syria, where international terrorism has had an area of development not seen until now, we have had the intervention of an Attaché from the Syrian embassy”, explains Julia Ropero.
So far, more than 500 students of Law, International Relations, Political Science, Criminology and other degrees have attended the lectures, which, according to the professor, "has allowed them to become aware of the importance of plurality and the role of the University as a meeting point to reconcile policies on complex social phenomena”.
The Congress is part of the activities of the MINECO project 'United Nations Res. 21 78 and its transposition into national Criminal Law: proposals for a balance between security and individual rights'. It is directed by professors Julia Ropero and Francisco Jiménez García, who are its main researchers.
The congress has also served to present some of the conclusions obtained by the research team, such as the need to coordinate the asylum policy, the opportunity for a reform of the Criminal Code that gives greater coherence to terrorism crimes, the need of confronting radicalization from prevention and from international policies, which have served as raw material for the Congress and have made it possible to spark debate and reflect on issues such as the effects of hate speech and whether this type of argument is causing polarization that hinders an equitable and effective response to the threat of jihadist terrorism.
Yesterday's sessions were opened by the vice-rector for University Extension, David Ortega. On Monday it was the turn of the vice-dean of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Vicente Calvo.