Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms in a State of Natural Disaster and Epidemic Emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-142
Author(s):  
Robert Socha ◽  
António Tavares
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
The State ◽  
World Health ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic

On 11th March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a state of pandemic. In turn, on 21 March 2020, the Minister of Health, by way of a regulation, declared a state of epidemic in the territory of the Republic of Poland. At the same time, the decision resulted in the introduction of many restrictions concerning, inter alia, freedom of movement, assembly and trade. At the same time, discussions started on the constitutionality of the introduced restrictions on civil liberties. Having the above in mind, the aim of this article is to present the correlation in the sphere of limiting or suspending civil liberties in a state of emergency, such as a state of natural disaster, and in “non-emergency” states, such as a state of epidemic threat and a state of pandemic. Although the word “state” appears in the three mentioned legal situations, the state of natural disaster, as one of the three constitutional states of emergency, creates a different legal and socio-political situation than the state of epidemic threat or the state of pandemic. A common feature of the above-mentioned events, however, is that they became a fundamental disruption of the social context of individual and group functioning in connection with the occurrence of a human infectious disease.

Public Security in the Polish Law on State of Emergency

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Bernard Wiśniewski
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Public Security ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Polish Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This article presents the essential issues in the provisions of the law relating to public security in force in the Republic of Poland which are used in conditions of extraordinary internal threats that cannot be dealt with using ordinary legal tools. The considerations are based on an analysis of the legally regulated obligations of the state as a political organisation to society for securing the conditions for its survival in a changing security environment. This serves to present the basic issues of public security and the rules for the use of the State instruments for states of emergency. The rest of this article presents the relationship between issues of public security and a state of emergency. In this part of the article it is essential to discuss the circumstances that must exist to be able to employ specific legal measures in the conditions of threats to the constitutional order of the State and threats affecting the security of the citizens or of public order (including those caused by terrorist activities). Consequently, it discusses the impact of the rigours of a state of emergency in relation to the potential for limiting the escalation of these threats. The final part of the article also presents other instruments, apart from the state of emergency which, in the Polish legal system, can be used in the fight against threats which endanger public security and that are related to prohibited activities in cyberspace.

scholarly journals Stany nadzwyczajne stan wojenny, stan wyjątkowy, stan klęski żywiołowej w konstytucji Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej

2016 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Marcin Miemiec
Keyword(s):  
Crisis Management ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
Democratic State

EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES MARTIAL LAW, STATE OF EMERGENCY, STATE OF NATURAL DISASTERThe Constitution regulates the organisation and functioning of the most important organs of the state, the rules governing the relations between the state and citizens, as well as basic rights, freedoms and duties of citizens. The Constitution allows for restriction of these laws only by legislation, and only when it is necessary in a democratic state for its security or for the protection of public order, environmental protection, health and public morality, for the rights and freedoms of others. It is unacceptable to violate the essence of freedoms and rights. The restrictions are subject to police laws’ regulations. When the police measures are insufficient, applicable are legislations on extraordinary measures: martial law, state of emergency, state of natural disaster. The Constitution defines the following rules for the implementation of these states: uniqueness, legality, proportionality, purpose, protection of the legal system basics, protection of the representative bodies. They are the directives of interpretation of other regulations of the discussed Chapter of the Constitution and the regulations of statutes on emergency situations. A kind of competition for legislation on states of emergency may be provisions of the Act on Crisis Management.

scholarly journals Intervenciones Artísticas: Estado de Excepción en México

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Pablo Estévez
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
The State ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
Mexican Society ◽  
The Social

The movement of Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico began in 1994, succeeding in generating a change in Mexican society by valuing indigenous liberation practices. However, a state of emergency is instituted in Zapatista territories according to laws that grant amnesty and regulate the legal vacuum. Certain Mexican artists such as Erick Beltrán, Gabriel Kuri, Abraham Cruzvillegas and Pablo Kubli, contribute critical reflections with works sustained in the context of pure violence of the State. The theoretical framework is constrained by the theories of Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Giorgio Agamben and Achille Mbembe, who contribute to the understanding of the state of exception that the State implements by modifying sovereignty and Human Rights. The method used in the article corresponds to the reception of literary texts. The artistic pieces that are integrated by Pablo Kubli represent the interdisciplinary contribution of the social sciences and the practice of art, with images, schemes and interventions that are argumentative reflections of the environment of globalized violence, and of social resistance to the paradigm of modification of autonomy in intervened regions. In addition, a comparative approach with states of emergency of globalized countries is proposed according to the events of September 11, 2001 in New York and March 11, 2004 in Madrid, among others. Starting from the Mexican experience and from global countries, the term of sovereignty is modified by the violence of the State over territories cut off by the permanence of the state of exception and restrictions on constitutional guarantees.

State of emergency in Poland: constitutional regulation and “hybrid” nature during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-67
Author(s):  
Valentina Chekharina
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Hybrid State ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
The World ◽  
Constitutional Tribunal ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Emergency Measures

The COVID-19 pandemic became widespread across the world throughout 2020 and 2021 in an emergency that gravely impacted the health and lives of people around the world. States have taken exceptional measures to combat the pandemic, including controversial decisions to introduce emergency regimes, which have been questioned in regards to their compliance with constitutional regulations. The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic requires special measures, however they must remain within the constitutional framework. Consequently, the pandemic and its effect upon the legality of regimes in a state of emergency has captured the attention of legal scholars. The aim of this study is to analyse the constitutional regulation of the state of emergency in the Republic of Poland which was introduced in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Poland, an emergency regime was introduced following an order by the Minister of Health. However the state of emergency (here, natural disaster) as stated by the Constitution was not introduced, although, according to analysts, some state bodies and officials had confirmed that all the necessary conditions for this were met. On 2 March 2020, the so-called Special Law on Coronavirus was adopted, followed by other regulations to fight the pandemic. These analysts stated that the measures introduced by the new acts corresponded to a legal regime containing the constitutional characteristics of a state of emergency, but lacked the appropriate constitutional procedure for their introduction. Presidential elections were held at this time, however legally they cannot be held during a state of emergency, as it indicates the presence of political interests in the choice of the regime. The unconstitutional procedure of the introduction of emergency measures alongside their characteristics of the state of emergency make it possible to consider the epidemic regime introduced in Poland a “hybrid” state of emergency, which is not detailed by the Constitution or legislation. On this basis, the study concludes that reasons behind the unconstitutional response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland can be found in both the Constitution, and in the manifestations of the crisis of the constitutional and legal system, which began with the reform of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal by the ruling Law and Justice party in 2015.

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 Head of State: Function of the President of the Republic of Belarus

Lex Russica ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 148-160
Author(s):  
I. G. Skorokhod
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
State Function ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Legitimate State ◽  
State Body

According to the author of the paper, the head of state is not a position, not a title, not any state body, but the function of the President of the Republic of Belarus, along with the function of the guarantor of the Constitution, human and civil rights and freedoms. The function of the head of state is unchanged and is due to his position in the system of state authorities. This function manifests the nature and essence of the institution of the presidency, which cannot be reduced to specific actions or practices, therefore, it is implemented through the exercise of powers in various organizational forms. In this regard, the concept of “president”, unlike “head of state”, is not static, but dynamic, since the list of rights and duties of the President of the Republic of Belarus is open.Powers are unambiguous, substantive rights and duties of the President, legitimized from the functions and expressed in various organizational forms of his activities. At the same time, the characteristics of the President’s powers can only show the external side of his activities. The powers of the President, in contrast to the functions, are a variable value. The President through representative, legitimation, arbitration, control, rulemaking, personnel, integration, symbolist and ceremonial state powers carries out the function of the head of state.The function of the head of state is the superiority and precedence of the President over all state officials. In accordance with it, the idea of the Republic of Belarus is personified. This function allows the President of the Republic of Belarus to be the main public representative and act on behalf of the Belarusian state both within it and in international relations. This is the result of the state obtaining the status of a legitimate state, the continuity and interaction of state authorities, mediation between them. The constitutional function of the head of state makes it necessary for the President to have instruments of power-state bodies operating within this function.

State Actor Dynamics in Brunei’s Healthcare Policies

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syazana Fauzi
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
World Health Organisation ◽  
The State ◽  
World Health ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The World ◽  
Prevention And Treatment ◽  
State Actor ◽  
State Actors

This study seeks to ascertain the state actor dynamics in Brunei’s healthcare policies from the perspectives of an Islamic system of governance, by first identifying the state actors, or institutions, involved in influencing, formulating and implementing Brunei’s healthcare policies. The ‘IGC Matrix’ is employed to establish the Islamic health ‘sets of expectations’ (SoEs), particularly in terms of prevention and treatment, and medical ethics, primarily derived from the Qur’ān and Prophet Muhammadﷺ’s Sunnah, in order to construct for this study a framework of reference. The SoEs are then compared against Brunei’s healthcare policies and activities to determine how much of the Islamic health SoEs are met. This study reveals that Brunei’s healthcare policies are largely motivated by non-Islamic inspirations, specifically by the World Health Organisation (WHO), but with numerous overlaps with Islamic demands. In other words, Brunei’s healthcare policies may be stemmed from a non-Islamic influence, but it does not necessarily mean that they are un-Islamic. And most, if not all, of Brunei’s healthcare policies demonstrate a top-down approach, where the state actors play a crucial role in shaping Brunei’s dynamical SoEs.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY WITHIN THE CONSTITUSIONAL LAW SYSTEM IN INDONESIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
Muhammad Rinaldy Bima
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
State Function ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Law System ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Legal Document ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Governance Practice ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Republic

This research aims at analyzing the state governance practice which frequently and extraordinarily takes place when governing the state administration, in which the common legal system is unable to accommodate the people's interests. Self-governance is highly necessary that the state function may effectively run independently as the state organ by ensuring respect and compliance of right guaranteed by the state 1945 constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (UUD NRI 1945) as the highest legal document in governing the state. The legal equipment should be able to anticipate various possibilities of emergency conditions to ensure the sustainability of state life

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document