Legal dimensions of legislation to confront Corona Written by / Dr. Inas Abdul Hadi Al-Rubaie

 

 

Legal dimensions of legislation to confront Corona

Written by / Dr.  Inas Abdul Hadi Al-Rubaie

 

 

 

 Since March 11 of last year, the World Health Organization announced an outbreak of the new Corona virus, which appeared for the first time in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December of 2019, and to transform the level of the outbreak into a pandemic or the so-called global epidemic, the organization called on countries represented by their governments to take urgent and strict steps to stop the spread of the virus,  Since international human rights law guarantees every person the right to the highest attainable level of health while obliging states to take the necessary measures to prevent the threat that may occur to public health while providing medical care to those who need it, in addition to that, the same law recognizes restrictions that can be imposed on some rights  In the context of a serious threat to public health and emergencies that threaten the life of the nation, to be justified by having a legal and necessary basis on scientific grounds that are not arbitrary, discriminatory, and proportionate, for a specific period of time, while respecting human dignity with the ability to review to show the extent to which it has achieved its desired goals.

 And since the Covid-19 epidemic, in its breadth and severity, rises to the level of a public health threat to justify and accordingly impose restrictions on some rights, such as those resulting from imposing quarantine, which limits freedom of movement and in the midst of the disorder accompanying crises and to limit the damages that may result from the imposition of these  Measures when not observing standards related to human rights, as is the case with non-discrimination, transparency and respect for human dignity. Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ratified by most countries, every human being has the right to enjoy the highest attainable level of physical and mental health and governments are obligated to take effective measures to prevent  Epidemic, endemic, occupational and other diseases by treating and combating them, as the organization confirms through the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which works to monitor the commitment of states to the covenant, because the right to health is closely linked to other human rights work and depends on that. The right to health requires the availability of health goods and services in quantities.  They are adequate, for everyone, and at reasonable prices without discrimination, even for marginalized groups, while being appropriate for them  Medical, medical and high quality, to provide the Syracuse principles adopted by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1984 AD and the general comments of the United Nations Human Rights Committee on states of emergency and freedom of movement binding guidance to governments about the measures taken by them that restrict human rights for reasons related to public health or emergencies  The National Council for these measures to be legal, necessary, proportionate and for a specific period of time characterized by timidity, taking into account the disproportionate impact on certain population groups or marginalized groups, as the group of international human rights experts declared in March of 2020 that the declaration of states of emergency around the world should not be used as a basis for targeting  Certain groups or individuals, therefore, cannot be used as a cover under the guise of protecting health or to suppress dissent, and among these rights is the right to freedom of expression. Governments are obligated, including the right to receive and publish information, so this right cannot be restricted for reasons related to public health or that this right is exposed to danger.

Governments are obligated to provide necessary information in relation to health, including with regard to providing access to information related to problems  The main health services in the community, including prevention and control methods, to be priority obligations that ensure accurate and up-to-date information about the outbreak of an epidemic and ways to access services and aspects related to responding to any outbreak of the virus to be available to all in a manner that ensures easy access and perhaps the closest evidence of countries that have not respected the right to freedom  Expression and taken measures against journalists and health care workers is the Chinese government when it concealed from the public the presence and severity of infections and ignored the possibility of transmission of the virus between humans while detaining people for publishing information about the epidemic on social media while imposing censorship on discussions about the epidemic on the network  The Internet calls for a doctor (Li Wenliang), who works in the Wuhan Hospital, where the injured are treated by the police on charges of spreading rumors after he had previously warned about the virus in an Internet chat room, and died in the beginning of last year due to the virus, but in Thailand, he encountered individuals  They work in the public health sector and have spoken on the Internet with retaliatory prosecutions by authorities after they previously criticized the government's response to the outbreak  An epidemic and their raising of fears of a cover-up of what is happening on the ground in terms of the number of injuries, deaths and recovery rates, with their publication of alleged reports of alleged corruption by accumulating masks and medical supplies to profit from them so that health workers face disciplinary measures that include canceling contracts and work licenses because of their talk about the acute shortage of  Essential equipment in hospitals across the country.

 In contrast, we find that some countries have taken another context in dealing with events, as they have taken rapid steps in dealing with the spread of the virus with the daily media coverage provided by health officials and public service announcements in the course of working to confront wrong information in order to reduce panic and gain people's confidence and encouragement.  To provide assistance to others in the crisis, as is the case in Taiwan, Singapore and Korea.

 While some countries witnessed confusion in the conflicting permits, as is the case in Italy, as the contradictory permits of government officials were represented, which may be attributed to internal political reasons that reduced the impact of public announcements related to social distancing at the beginning of the crisis, so that the government returned to implement a broad campaign on the best protection methods to protect oneself and others.  For the spread of the virus.

 By going back to the legal controls in place during the period of the spread of viruses and aimed at confronting the transmission of infection and aimed at limiting the transmission of infection resulting from the spread of viruses, we find that well-legislated laws can be one of the most important means to confront the crisis and help build strong health systems by imposing measures to create safer conditions to be  These laws are the basis for the effective implementation of the international health regulations adopted by the World Health Organization to prevent and control infection through the regulation of travel and trade and the implementation of measures to maintain basic health services, especially since the spread of the pandemic has witnessed a significant increase in urgent legislative measures to combat the pandemic and limit its effects.

Establishing strong legal frameworks is crucial to the national response to confronting the pandemic, which in most cases falls outside the health sector, and since health is a global concept, here these legal frameworks must be harmonized with international obligations in order to effectively respond to current and emerging health risks, so laying a strong legal basis for health has become more.  As important as ever, as poorly legislated laws can be harmful b  Marginalized groups of the population to hinder efforts aimed at ending the crisis and overcoming the pandemic, which shows the need to develop accurate and prudent legislation in dealing with the current crisis, taking into account that it guarantees the right of all individuals to obtain the health, preventive and treatment services they need so that these legislation have an effective impact on  Skip the crisis.