Covid-19 Emergency Prison Release Policy: A Public Health Imperative and a Rule of Law Challenge

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-447
Author(s):  
Victoria Jennett
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Release Policy

The Courts, the Remote Hearing and the Pandemic: From Action to Reflection

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Legg ◽  
Anthony Song
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The World ◽  
Data Gap

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world rapidly shifted to remote hearings. Balancing public health directives with the need to continue upholding the rule of law, what followed was the largest, unforeseen mass-pilot of remote hearings across the world. For courts this was necessarily a time of action, not reflection. However, after having maintained court operations, it is now necessary to reflect on the experience of remote courts and their users during an otherwise unprecedented situation. Unlike previous iterations of remote hearings, the COVID-19 experience was fully remote – whereby all participants took part in the hearing remotely. The difficulty is until now, almost no prior empirical data has existed on this type of fully remote hearing with the majority of previous research focused on the use of audiovisual links (‘AVLs’) to facilitate partially remote appearances within courtrooms. To bridge the research and data gap on fully remote hearings, this article draws on the previous body of literature to both examine the COVID-19 experience, and to assist in guiding future research and use of remote hearings.

scholarly journals Break or Bend in Case of Emergency?: Rule of Law and State of Emergency in European Public Health Administration

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filipe Brito BASTOS ◽  
Anniek DE RUIJTER
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
European Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

In this article, we ask what the impact is of the role of the EU administration in responding to emergencies in terms of (changes to) the rule of law. A response to an emergency in some cases creates exceptions to rule of law guarantees that bind the authorities to procedural rules and fundamental rights. These exceptions can become more permanent and even change the constitutional order of the EU. We articulate the legal framework for health emergencies, and discuss how the EU court has interpreted and developed this framework in two key decisions. We then ask whether this framework offers adequate safeguards for upholding the rule of law in cases of major health emergencies. We conclude that public health emergencies can bend and even break rule of law requirements for the EU administration, and advocate for more legal guidance on proportionality, which may offer better safeguards suited for protecting the rights of affected parties.

scholarly journals THE STATE OF EXCEPTION IN THE GREEK CONSTITUTION:THE RESILIENCE OF THE GREEK CONSTITUTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
Evripidis STYLIANIDIS
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Public Health Crisis

The state of exception is provided for in constitutions in response to emergency situations. The resilience of constitutions is tested in such situations, which are marked by the concentration of power in the executive and limitations in the exercise of fundamental rights. Although the Greek Constitution allows for the declaration of a state of siege, this does not include the case of a public health crisis. Nevertheless, particular constitutional provisions form an emergency mechanism, which proved to be effective against the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with democracy and the rule of law.

scholarly journals Coronavirus and the Curtailment of Religious Liberty

Laws ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Mark Hill QC
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
The Impact

Even public health emergencies must be handled within the framework of the rule of law. The alternative is social chaos. Every nation on earth has been touched by the impact of COVID-19, a deadly pandemic that has changed—perhaps permanently—the manner in which we are governed and live our daily lives. This paper addresses the effect of the State’s response to the threat of Coronavirus upon the enjoyment of religious liberty, both directly and indirectly.

scholarly journals Crisis Without Borders: What Does International Law Say About Border Closure in the Context of Covid-19?

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Chetail
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
International Human

This paper is assessing the legality of border closures decided by a vast number of countries with the view of limiting the spread of Covid-19. Although this issue has raised diverging interpretations in relation to International Health Regulations and regional free movement agreements, international human rights law provides a clear-cut answer: the rule of law stops neither at the border nor in times of emergency. Against this normative framework, border control can and must be carried out with the twofold purpose of protecting public health and individual rights, whereas border closure is unable to do so because it is by essence a collective and automatic denial of admission without any other form of process. This paper argues that blanket entry bans on the ground of public health are illegal under international human rights law. They cannot be reconciled with the most basic rights of migrants and refugees, including the principle of non-refoulement and access to asylum procedures, the prohibition of collective expulsion, the best interests of the child and the principle of non-discrimination. The paper concludes on the ways to better integrate at the borders public health and human rights imperatives in due respect with the rule of law. In both law and practice, public health and migrant's rights are not mutually exclusive. They can reinforce each other within a comprehensive human rights based approach to health and migration policies.

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