Abstract
AbstractThis special section tells the story of Covid-19 through the lens of national responses, serious concerns about unprecedented human rights limitations and infringements, and the respective role of courts in public health emergencies. It compiles perspectives on disease control developments in Brazil, Italy, Poland, Taiwan, the U.S., and the EU to explore various aspects of judicial review protecting, or failing to protect, human rights. It offers insights from states and regions which have experienced high pandemic rates or may attract attention for not treating human rights as a priority. Amidst the crisis of multilateralism and the World Health Organization (WHO) authority, and the fact that public health is typically a national power, the Articles focus on the state-level analyses to inspire comparative findings and further research. The section also draws on diversity and transdisciplinarity. The contributions are authored by scholars specializing in wide-ranging areas of law, including constitutional, health, private, and human rights law, as well as in political philosophy and public health. This text introduces the special section by offering a broader picture of the human rights’ problématique in times of pandemics.
Highlights
Special Section: Courts, Human Rights and Covid-19 Pandemic — a Comparative PerspectiveThe Protection of Human Rights in Pandemics— Reflections on the Past, Present, and FuturePatrycja Dąbrowska-Kłosińska (Received 21 July 2021; accepted 21 July 2021) AbstractThis special section tells the story of Covid-19 through the lens of national responses, serious concerns about unprecedented human rights limitations and infringements, and the respective role of courts in public health emergencies
Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Corresponding author: patrycja.dabrowska@alumni.eui.eu (Received 21 July 2021; accepted 21 July 2021)
Amidst the crisis of multilateralism and the World Health Organization (WHO) authority, and the fact that public health is typically a national power, the Articles focus on the state-level analyses to inspire comparative findings and further research
Summary
What did we know about protecting human rights in public health emergencies before the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus shook the 21st century world? Three issues merit highlighting. Reviewing the effectiveness of those responses to epidemics usually confirmed the arguments of scholars and practitioners that overly restrictive and/or inadequate public health interventions that do not pay sufficient consideration to the protection of human rights, the rule of law, and ethics can be counter-effective and have long-lasting and devastating impacts on societies.16 These are not new issues and has been known in modern times ever since the AIDS epidemic.. It should be recognized that there is a danger that policy makers are forced to make choices not dictated by the search for the optimal solution, but rather a solution that would protect them from accusations.”19 It follows that the past pandemic experiences demonstrated the appealing need for human rights centrality in pandemic preparedness, dedicated monitoring of obligations’ fulfillment by state authorities by independent bodies and the importance of judicial scrutiny of public health interventions, including the relied on evidence.. It follows that the past pandemic experiences demonstrated the appealing need for human rights centrality in pandemic preparedness, dedicated monitoring of obligations’ fulfillment by state authorities by independent bodies and the importance of judicial scrutiny of public health interventions, including the relied on evidence. After the Ebola and Zika experience, it was argued that “the limitations of the WHO response have raised an imperative for reform to build country core capacities to : : : engaging a rights-based response to infectious disease prevention, detection and response.” But have these arguments been taken seriously?
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