The seminar ‘The Consolidation of the Rule of Law and the Challenges of Digitalisation’
To promote multicultural and transjurisdictional exchange, the Faculty of Law (FLL) of the University of Macau (UM), the Faculty of Law of Agostinho Neto University (UAN) in Angola, and the Faculty of Law of Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Mozambique jointly organised a seminar titled ‘The Consolidation of the Rule of Law and the Challenges of Digitalisation’. The event brought together scholars, experts, faculty members, and students to discuss challenges posed by digital transformation to the rule of law.
The opening ceremony featured remarks by Rui Martins, vice rector of UM, who presided over the session, and Tong Io Cheng, dean of FLL. José Octávio Serra Van-Dúnem, director of the Centre for Legal, Economic and Social Studies at UAN, and Eduardo Chiziane, dean of the Faculty of Law at UEM, also attended the seminar.
The seminar included six thematic sessions focusing on key issues at the intersection of law, digitalisation, and artificial intelligence (AI) in Macau and Portuguese-speaking countries. Topics discussed included the dialogue between law and rights in Angola; the sources of Angolan criminal law; the justice model in Angola and the validity of evidence obtained through facial reconstruction from genetic profiles; Mozambique’s AI policy; digital transformation of administrative governance; AI-mediated family dispute resolution; the protection of traditional cultural expressions against generative AI; the legal framework for smart contracts; the role of community courts; digitalisation and climate justice; the legal control of algorithmic systems; digital assets; taxation in the digital age; the rule of law in the digital era; and the evolving legal profession in a world increasingly shaped by large language models.
The closing session featured concluding remarks by Manuel Trigo, director of the UM Centre for Law Studies, as well as José Octávio Serra Van-Dúnem, and Eduardo Chiziane. The seminar not only promoted diverse academic dialogue among participants from Macao, Angola, and Mozambique, but also established a solid foundation for future cooperation in the fields of law and technology.
