scholarly journals Constitutional silence on election postponement in Ethiopia amidst a pandemic: A critique of constitutional interpretation

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 714-731
Author(s):  
Marew Abebe Salemot
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Vested Interest ◽  
Constitutional Interpretation ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Emergency Measure ◽  
Ethiopian Government ◽  
Fallacious Reasoning

Election postponement in Ethiopia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has raised critical constitutional questions that have never been really thought before in the countrys constitutional law jurisprudence. This is because the state of emergency measure in Ethiopia, due to the spread of COVID-19, is in conflict with constitutional deadlines for elections. The constitutional lacuna is complicated by the absence of explicit constitutional provisions that indisputably govern election postponement. Although any legal measures to postpone election schedule and pass constitutional deadlock is far from simple, the Ethiopian government has suggested four possible options to the constitutional dilemma: dissolving the parliament, declaring state of emergency, amendment of the Constitution and constitutional interpretation. Finally, the House of Federation (HoF), the Ethiopian upper House entrusted to interpret the constitution decided and postponed the election indefinitely until the pandemic no longer poses a risk to public health confirmed by the parliament which has direct vested interest in the outcome. This research investigates whether the constitutional interpretation option adheres to the premises of the Ethiopian Constitution or is it extra constitutional. Accordingly, the HoF provided superficial analysis and fallacious reasoning and failed to meaningfully grapple with the serious constitutional issues. The constitutional interpretation is not constitutionally bound and is defective. The manner the HoF managed the constitutional vacuum concerning election postponement, indisputably, was constitutional interpretation by name but a political decision in practice.

Japanese-language videos on YouTube as a source of public health information for COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The State ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Spread Of Infection

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.

Amendment of the Contravention Code or Defiance of the Constitution by the Exceptional Situations Commission?

2021 ◽  
pp. 56-65
Author(s):  
Iulian Rusanovschi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Republic Of Moldova ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right ◽  
Epidemiological Situation

On 17.03.2020, the Parliament declared a state of emergency on the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova for the period March 17 - May 15, 2020. By the same Decision, the Parliament delegated the Commission for Exceptional Situations with the right to implement a series of measures to overcome the epidemiological situation in the country. However, in the conditions of a functioning Parliament and despite the clear and exhaustive texts of the Constitution, the Commission for Exceptional Situations amended during the state of emergency the Contravention Code, which is an organic law. The amendments specifically concerned the procedure and terms for examining infringement cases brought in connection with non-compliance with the measures adopted by the Commission for Exceptional Situations and the Extraordinary Commission for Public Health. In the conditions in which an organic law can be modified only by the Parliament, it is obvious the unconstitutionality, at least partial, of the Disposition no. 4 of 24.03.2020 of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, but unfortunately, the Constitutional Court is not mandated with the right to submit to constitutional review the normative acts adopted by the Commission for Exceptional Situations. Under these conditions, the state is obliged to identify solutions in order not to allow an authority to adopt unconstitutional normative acts that cannot be subject to constitutional review.

scholarly journals Epidemiological statistics of adolescent suicide during confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Ecuador

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-803
Author(s):  
Andres Joaquin Guarnizo Chávez ◽  
Nathaly Alejandra Romero Heredia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Adolescent Suicide ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
The State ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Suicide Method ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Psychological Suffering

Introduction: Adolescent suicide is a public health problem that has been neglected due to the pandemic and confinement. Objective: To describe the characteristics of adolescent suicide, during the period of confinement due to pandemic in the year 2020 in Ecuador. Method: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study was carried out, with the information from the database of violent deaths of the Ministry of Government, from March 17 to September 13, which lasted through the state of emergency. The analysis was carried out by province, sex, age, suicide method and frequency in days after the event occurred. The suicide mortality rate (per 100,000 inhabitants) was estimated for each province. Results: During confinement due to a state of emergency in 2020 in Ecuador, 97 suicides were registered among adolescents between 10 and 19 years of age. The highest number was estimated in males between 15 and 19 years of age, with the most frequent age being 19. The most frequent day of removal of corpses was on Mondays, and the preferred mode of suicide was by hanging with 81 reported cases. followed by intoxication and poisoning. Conclusions: No increases were found in the suicide mortality rate during the state of emergency in 2020. However, it must be considered that the context of COVID-19 has increased the burden of psychological suffering, which may lead adolescents to think about suicide.

German Constitutional Law and Doctrine on State of Emergency – Paradigms and Dilemmas of a Traditional (Continental) Discourse

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 453-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Jakab
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Current Issue ◽  
German Literature ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
The Law ◽  
German Constitutional Law ◽  
Academic Debate

A foreign jurist, on looking into the German literature on constitutional law, will soon and suddenly be struck by a peculiarity of this scholarship: the unusually strong emphasis on a marginal area of constitutional law, namely, the state of emergency. The inquiry is, of course, well-known in other countries, but the passion for, and the theoretical effort expended on, this marginal area is unique to Germany.However, this disinterest on the part of other constitutional lawyers, and the recent decline in interest on Germany's part, could yet change, turning the marginal area into a highly current issue. Combating terrorism raises questions for which the German patterns of argumentation, fine-tuned in the academic debate on the law of state of emergency, may provide a useful framework for discussion. The questions arising in the context of the struggle against terrorism test the limits of positive regulations in extreme situations, leading ultimately to the same underlying dilemma as the law on state of emergency, though with different terminology. In this sense, the constellation of legal issues involved in combating terrorism could be considered as the law on state of emergency “incognito.” However, the various argumentative patterns for law on state of emergency have not yet been directly transferred into the very timely legal discourse on counterterrorism (and no such attempt is made here), but such a transfer of argumentation suggests itself. As such, the topic has a “potential currency,” even if traditional issues of state of emergency themselves no longer count among the most current issues.

scholarly journals The Impact of Legislative Changes on the Number of Calls to the Romanian Covid 19 Telverde Helpline

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
Mihai Buzatu ◽  
Georgeta Dinculescu ◽  
Florentina Ligia Furtunescu ◽  
Dana Galieta Mincă
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The State ◽  
Green Line ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Telephone Calls ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract On 24th of February 2020, the Ministry of Health in Romania announced the operationalization of the Green Line, known as Telverde, within the National Institute of Public Health, in order to provide citizens with information related to the prevention of Sars-Cov-2 infection. The number of registered calls increased considerably at the time of the declaration of the pandemic, the beginning and the cessation of the state of emergency and during the issuance of military ordinances. Different key periods were studied and compared so that we could determine if the major administrative and legislative events have influenced the number of registered calls. Our findings sustained the supposition that the major events that took place during this period have indeed influenced the number of telephone calls made to TelVerde helpline.

scholarly journals The state’s responsibility towards entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic for the measures adopted in relation to the epidemic of coronavirus

2021 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 01037
Author(s):  
Stanislav Bílek ◽  
Zdeněk Caha ◽  
Vendula Velková
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Casual Relation ◽  
The Right

This paper briefly analyses the legislation of the state’s liability for the measures adopted in relation to the epidemic of coronavirus in the period of the state of emergency, it especially deals with the state’s liability for damage accrued upon entrepreneurs in a casual relation to the restriction of the right to engage in enterprise. The aim of the paper is to carry out a legal analysis of liability for damage according to the Crisis Act on one hand, and of liability for damage caused by the terminated measures of the state according to the Act referring to the protection of public health, on the other hand. The paper provides a practical guideline for claiming damages and draws attention to the limits of such claims.

Ein Musterentwurf mit Schlagseite zulasten der Freiheit

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-62
Author(s):  
Bodo Pieroth
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Preventive Detention ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Preceding Article ◽  
Police Detention

This contribution, entitled “A Sample Draft with a Tendency towards Curtailing Freedom”, critically examines the planned project of a standardised police act (Musterpolizeigesetz). This template legislation is discussed by Markus Thiel in the preceding article. Firstly, the lead commission’s approach to standardise “the maximum that is permissible from a constitutional point of view” is considered misguided. It makes extremely one-sided use of the legislator’s corridor between freedom and security, and jeopardises the project as a whole - a project that makes sense in itself. Secondly, the legal concept of “impending danger”, which has already found its way into recent amendments to state police legislation, is criticized linguistically, constitutionally, and politically. The attempt is made to achieve the necessary police-law defence against terrorism through careful adjustments, rather than by overcoming the tried and tested constitutional dogma of the terms “danger” and “responsibility”. Thirdly, reasons are given for why preventive police detention infringes European and constitutional law. Detention is imposed without the existence of a concrete danger, or for a period exceeding 14 days. It is recalled that, in terms of legal history and comparative law, preventive detention is a typical instrument of the state of emergency and of regimes of injustice.

“I'd make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson's Catiline His Conspiracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Legal Procedures ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.

Interaction of the State and Business on Indicators of Values and Innovations of Public Health

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
V.A. Morozov
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
State Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Medical Institutions ◽  
Business Structures

The article analyzes the state of public health on the example of domestic and foreign statistics, as well as prospects for its development and improvement. The state of relations and forms of interaction of budgetary medical institutions (state, municipal) with private clinics, as well as directly private clinics with the structures of municipal and state power are considered. The directions and ways of interaction of power and business structures for improvement of methods and forms of service of patients on the basis of indicators of values and innovations are offered.

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