Groningen Centre for Health Law

Aikaterini Tsampi - The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the ECtHR will inevitably be largely used to provide for human rights law arguments for the screening of the COVID-19 related response. The scholarly analysis issued so far already builds on ECHR law (see, indicatively, Coghlan, Spadaro). Given the versatile impact of the COVID-19 related measures on a considerable number of human rights, numerous ECtHR cases can be used as guidance for the assessment of the current situation.

Nadine Voelkner - According to UNHCR figures (25.03.2020), there are currently a staggering 70.8 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. Among them, 25.9 million, half of whom are under the age of 18, have crossed international borders and are, therefore, designated as refugees. The 1951 Refugee Convention theoretically safeguards the right to health for refugees, which includes access to public health services and essential medicine equivalent to the level of citizens of host countries.

Nikee van der Gouw - In recent years, research has shown that international non-vaccination rates have contributed to currently increased rates of infection. The spread of the new respiratory disease COVID-19 has led to governments taking precautionary measures in order to ‘flatten the curve’ or, in other words, lift the burden on hospitals by slowing down the virus’s infection rate.

David Patterson - Democratic societies require freedoms of expression, movement, association and access to information to function – without free access to information and the right to challenge government action publicly and through the courts, democratic freedoms lose meaning.

Brigit Toebes - The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus is a matter of international law and human rights. The World Health Organization (WHO) should have more legal and financial capacity to act in the event of such an outbreak. It is too early to assess whether countries act proportionately in the light of human rights. A human rights based approach should be a standard component of interventions aimed at combating infectious diseases.

Ratna Juwita - The world is facing an unprecedented global health challenge in the 21st century: Covid-19. Covid-19 has reshaped our understanding of the ways we combat viruses. Since its initial detection in Wuhan in late 2019,[1] Covid-19 has infected people globally.[2]

Brigit Toebes - De uitbraak van het COVID-19 virus is een zaak van internationaal recht en mensenrechten. De Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie (WHO) moet meer juridische en financiële armslag krijgen om op te treden indien zich een dergelijke uitbraak voordoet.

Scott Burris - COVID-19 ontwikkelt zich geleidelijk tot een overdraagbare ziekte met een sterfte gelijk of groter dan de normale griep. Nationale overheden dienen hun strategieën herzien en over te gaan tot het managen van een pandemie.

Scott Burris - For decades, public health experts have been warning of the possibility of a viral outbreak that would rapidly spread across the globe, causing significant morbidity and mortality. To prepare, and with the experience of diseases like SARS, the World Health Organization and national governments have focused on early detection and containment strategies and the necessary capacity to carry them out.

Pedro A. Villarreal - The previous post dealt with general issues of how the interpretation of the IHR’s provisions needs to take place by following their object and purpose. This requires assessing public health measures adopted by states taking their specific context into account. A second question is what happens when states do not base their actions upon the IHR’s obligations. The current blog post elaborates on this scenario.