Legality and Proportionality of Human Rights Restrictions Imposed in Georgia in Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on public health systems, economies, and labor markets of many countries. In order to fight the pandemic, countries have taken a number of measures, including those having impact on protection of human rights. Some countries have even declared a state of emergency. Some such measures entailed derogations from human rights obligations while others prescribed restrictions on human rights putting human rights under serious threat. Georgia, like many other countries, has imposed restrictions on human rights on the grounds that doing so enables it to fight more effectively against the COVID-19 pandemic.The article analyses the compliance of human rights restrictions imposed by Georgia in the course of fighting the pandemic with international and European human rights standards, including with respect to legality and proportionality, in order to balance the meeting of emergency needs and the effective protection of human rights. It is argued that derogations from human rights obligations were not necessary to fight the pandemic. The article points that although it was difficult to foresee that the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to such extensive restrictive measures being taken, had a well-developed legislative framework been in place beforehand, it would have helped to avoid some of the problems to have arisen related to legality, lawfulness, and proportionality in practice.