States of emergency and the legal questions over human rights restrictions

SEER ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-62
Author(s):  
Osman Kadriu

This article starts from the premise that human rights are the singular most important achievement won in political struggle. However, there remains a gap between the ideal and the practical reality which gives room for debate as to how, and in what circumstances, such rights can be restricted when a state of emergency arises. Within this framework, special attention is paid to the provisions of certain international documents related to the field of human rights as well as within a state’s own national law. The article discusses in particular the possible abuses of human rights in the situation of a state of emergency and the legal safeguards that have been put in place. The article presents the specifics of the constitutional system of the Republic of North Macedonia, with a special analysis of the role of constitutional courts in the protection of human rights during a state of emergency, and concludes with a look at the declaration of a state of emergency in Macedonia during the Covid-19 pandemic and at the legality of the actions of the various institutions involved.

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 69-90
Author(s):  
Maja Nastić

Given the current pandemic coronavirus, the paper analyzes the state’s response to the dis- ease caused by the virus (COVID-19) from the standpoint of two neighbouring countries i.e. the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia. Special attention was paid to the states’ response to the pandemic from human rights perspective. The research was conducted into the patterns of their “struggle”, especially as regards the human rights restrictions they had opted for within their constitutional framework. The starting point of the paper was that human rights often are the victims of the crises and that they are easily restricted for a longer periods. In this respect, the author deals with possible answers to the questions about the quality and content of human rights, and how the protection of human rights was ensured in these exceptional circumstances. This legal framework was linked to current statistics on the number of COVID-19 cases. Having analyzed the response of the two states, it could be noted that both states have constitutional provisions governing the state of emergency, allowing them the rule of law in these exceptional circumstances. Both constitutions recognize a list of human rights that may be derogated in state of emergency. However, in Croatia, the state of emergency was not introduced, and the human rights were restricted in accordance with the given epidemiological situation. In Serbia, the struggle against COVID-19 took place in state of emergency and was marked by an extremely restrictive regime of human rights, which was partly in conflict with the constitutional order. The constitutional concept of absolute protection of human rights, in their broadest sense, had proved unsustainable in practice.


Author(s):  
I Ketut Cahyadi Putra

The State of Pancasila Law essentially stems from the principle of kinship, deliberation of consensus based on customary law, and protection of human rights with the principle of balance between the rights and obligations and the function of the law of auxiliary. As contained in the Fifth Precept of Pancasila that is social justice for all Indonesian people, and the opening of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia related to the phrase "advancing public welfare" is the basic formula of welfare state ideology then manifested into the constitution of the state of Indonesia to be made Guidance of nation life and state administration. Negara Hukum Pancasila esensinya berpangkal pada asas kekeluargaan, musyawarah mufakat berlandaskan hukum adat, dan perlindungan hak asasi manusia dengan prinsip keseimbangan antara hak dan kewajiban dan fungsi hukum pengayoman. Sebagaimana yang terkandung dalam Sila Kelima Pancasila yaitu keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia, dan pembukaan Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 terkait frase “memajukan kesejahteraan umum” merupakan rumusan dasar ideologi welfare state kemudian dimanifestasikan ke dalam batang tubuh konstitusi negara Indonesia untuk dijadikan pedoman hidup berbangsa dan penyelenggaraan kenegaraan.


Author(s):  
Cotran Eugene ◽  
Brown Emma

This chapter discusses the protection given to fundamental freedoms and human rights in the Palestinian Territories and the work of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights in converting legislative intention into practical reality within Palestine. An understanding of the context in which the Commission operates is essential to understand the significance of the Commission's role in not only protecting fundamental freedoms and human rights in Palestine, but also in the ongoing process of developing democracy in the Palestinian Territories.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Bernard Wiśniewski

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.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Weber

Between 2015 and 2017, France, Turkey and Ukraine, as member states of the European Convention on Human Rights, declared a state of emergency according to Art. 15 ECHR. The events associated with the suspension of Convention rights show the current significance of the legal standardisation of political and social states of emergency. In the end it is all about the question of who ultimately controls the state of emergency: the sovereign state, the state community with a supranational judicial control, or both in terms of a horizontal overlapping of powers in the European multi-level system? Art. 15 ECHR still leaves unanswered questions to which the Strasbourg organs have responded over the years with a differentiated jurisprudence and with the granting of a certain margin of discretion. The book deals with these issues in the light of ECtHR case law and case studies on France, Turkey and Ukraine.


SEEU Review ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
Abdulla Azizi

AbstractConsidering that in times of state of emergency or civil emergency (such as the pandemic caused by COVID 19), governments in many countries around the world have restricted human rights and freedoms through legally binding government decrees. These restrictive measures increasingly raise dilemmas about their effect and possible violations by the government of international norms guaranteeing human rights. The paper aims to analyze whether these restrictive measures set out in the decisions of the Government of the Republic of Northern Macedonia (RNM) are in compliance with the derogations allowed under the European Convention on Human Rights and Freedoms (ECHR) and the positive laws in power. In the framework of this paper is analyzed whether these measures have the sole purpose of protecting the health of citizens or not.The work is limited in terms of time (as long as the state of emergency lasted three months) and territory (government decrees with the force of law).Descriptive, historical, analytical, comparative and citizen survey methods are used in this paper.Government decrees have been analyzed in order to assess whether they were prudent, in accordance with international standards and consequences that they have caused to citizens.The conclusions provide data on whether the management of the situation has been appropriate or not and to what extent it has been effective, as well as how much it has been within the international framework and how they have affected the quality of life of citizens.


Author(s):  
Viktor Kirilenko ◽  
Georgy Alekseev

In the conditions of globalization, international cooperation in counteracting the spread of radical ideologies is based on the common understanding of the necessity to combat the criminal activities of extremism groups. The use of strict criminal sanctions towards persons guilty of extremism crimes fully complies with the requirements set forth in the international agreements regarding the protection of human rights. Isolation of the most dangerous extremists from society is an effective way of preventing acts of terrorism, it has a beneficial impact on national and international security and contributes to the fulfillment of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The problem area of the criminal law qualification of extremism crimes is the necessity to differentiate between violent extremism and other offenses as well as lawful public initiatives against social discrimination and injustice. If power struggle takes place outside the legal framework, it poses a high degree of public danger, but only the gravest illegal actions should be qualified as manifestations of extremism. The ability of national law enforcement to impose sanctions corresponding to the gravity of unlawful methods of political struggle motivated by extremism is determined by the task of separating extremism ideology from less publically dangerous forms of organizing political protests. The analysis of extremism groups criminal activity showed that the ideology of criminal extremism is characterized by the desire to obtain power, authority and political clout by harming lives and health of people as well as by destroying such systemic institutes of civil society as family and private property. The solution to the problem of fair punishment in counteracting crimes with extremist motives lies in the elimination of such conditions that give rise to extremism ideologies and that act as a criminogenic factor determining the most dangerous cases of criminal violence in the Russian society.


2020 ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Kristina Mikalauskaitė-Šostakienė

The article analyzes the social and legal assumptions that determine the need for the legal regulation of territorial planning. The extent to which the appropriate legal regulation of territorial planning is related to the protection of the environment, ensuring sustainable development and the protection of human rights is assessed. It is concluded that the process of territorial planning is complex and complicated, has different needs and interests of natural and legal persons regarding the use of the respective territories are constantly encountered. Although the reform of the legal regulation of territorial planning has been carried out three times in Lithuania, gaps in the legal regulation of territorial planning have been identified so far.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ibrahim

Many legal scholars contend that Australia does not have a charter of rights in its Constitution. The legal scholar Rosalind Dixon, however, suggests that the Constitution does include some provisions that could be viewed as resembling a (partial) bill of rights. This constitutional framework might cause one to ponder whether human rights are adequately protected in the Australian constitutional system. This paper attempts to consider this question. It is argued that the protection of human rights under the Constitution, federal and state laws is not fully capable of responding to at least three human rights crises presented. Accordingly, the paper suggests that Australia should consider the idea of amending the Constitution in order to better human rights protection in the country. It offers suggestion that the Canadian model protection of human rights could be considered as one of the primary sources for reforms in the future.


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