28 January 2022
Voting in the Pandemic
On Sunday, 30 January 2022, Portugal will go to the ballots on a snap election. Despite some initiatives to adapt the legal framework of the right to vote to the challenges of a pandemic, the amendments failed to accommodate the cases of persons under compulsory quarantine on election day, disenfranchising hundred thousands of voters in 2020-2021. Ironically, the severity of the new variant Omicron, possibly limiting the rights of up to a million voters, appears to restore the right to vote, even though on a dubious legal basis. Continue reading >>
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10 November 2021
Legislative Activity and Inactivity in the COVID Pandemic in Spain
In Spain, hundreds of laws have been amended in reaction to the COVID pandemic. But Spain is still without a law determining when elections can be suspended, what is the deadline for extending the state of alarm, when a town can be closed perimetrically, and so on. Against logic and statistics, our public authorities have considered that the organic laws of 1981 and 1986 were sufficient for this purpose. However, they were clearly not designed for a pandemic unprecedented since 1918. Continue reading >>
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14 May 2021
WEBINAR 5: “Quo Vadis? – The Impact of an Extended Emergency”
How has COVID-19 impacted upon legal and political systems; minorities and indigenous peoples; and conflict-affected states in transition? This final panel debates themes of trust, equality, conflict and power, and concludes with a commentary by the convenor of the Symposium who will draw together key findings, emergent threats, and reasons for hope. Continue reading >>
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22 February 2021
The Australian Response to COVID-19: A Year in Review
Australia’s legal and political response to the outbreak of COVID-19 has been marked by the formation of a new intergovernmental forum, the National Cabinet, to lead a coordinated national response to the pandemic, and the declaration of successive states of emergency at the federal and state levels activating extraordinary executive powers, including limitations on movement and border closures. Australia’s response has, to date, resulted in the successful curtailment of community transmission of COVID-19 in Australian States and Territories. However, the response to the pandemic has also involved the removal of existing mechanisms of executive accountability, suspensions of Parliament and little parliamentary scrutiny or other oversight of executive action. These democratic deficits present fresh challenges for Australia going forward, particularly as the National Cabinet structure becomes permanent and the states of emergency endure for the foreseeable future. Continue reading >>
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15 February 2021
Myanmar’s Military Coup d’État Is Unconstitutional
The multilateral response should focus on the constitutionality of the Tatmadaw’s actions. Myanmar’s state of emergency is a military coup d’état, and is flagrantly unconstitutional. The international community should support Myanmar’s democratically elected government by insisting that the constitution be followed, and civilian authority restored immediately. Continue reading >>
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28 December 2020
On Vaccine Nationalism, the ‘Slowbalisation’ and Zoonotic Diseases – Part II
In part II of the interview, MURATCAN SABUNCU and ANNE PETERS discuss whether states can be held responsible for ineffective responses to the pandemic, the role of the WHO and the future of multilateralism. Continue reading >>28 December 2020
On Vaccine Nationalism, the ‘Slowbalisation’ and Zoonotic Diseases – Part I
Although it is impossible to predict all of the current pandemic’s potential consequences, Covid-19 has already acquired a multidimensional nature, affecting all levels of society, and will seemingly become a catalyst of change in many fields, including international relations and international law. In the light of the current developments, MURATCAN SABUNCU discusses with ANNE PETERS the coronavirus, its global effects and transformative potential. Continue reading >>19 November 2020
So It Goes – Part I
The Hungarian government is now so routinely using unconstitutional emergency powers to circumvent constitutional constraints that one must conclude that the government’s main aim is to govern outside the very constitution that it wrote for itself a mere decade ago. At this point, it seems irrelevant whether this limitless power is achieved with or without the declaration of a constitutionally authorized state of emergency. Government unconstrained by the constitution in Hungary has become the norm and not the exception. Continue reading >>
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26 May 2020
States of Emergency
The fifty days of the ‘COVID-19 and States of emergency’ Symposium covered the height of the global legal reaction to the pandemic, offering a snapshot of countries in collective crisis. It began with a call for a global conversation on the kind of legal norms which should govern the situation of worldwide pandemic. This final contribution aims to trace the central themes, questions and issues raised by the Symposium. Continue reading >>24 May 2020
The Rule of Law Stress Test: EU Member States’ Responses to COVID-19
By mid-March, all EU member states were in a state of emergency, whether they officially declared one or not. Across the EU many human rights were severely restricted, particularly the right to free movement. Not every state of emergency is the same, however. Some exceed what is foreseen in international human rights law. Continue reading >>
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