Article 15 derogations: Are they really necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Dzehtsiarou, K ORCID: 0000-0001-9253-6109 (2020) Article 15 derogations: Are they really necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic? European Human Rights Law Review, 2020 (4). pp. 359-371.

Text Article 15 Derogations.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (48kB)

Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a few human rights academics argued that human rights can be better protected if the governments derogate from international human rights mechanisms during the pandemic. In doing so, these governments clearly separate the regime of emergency from normalcy and hence they limit in time the measures they adopt to fight the pandemic. Article 15 allows such derogations from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In this short contribution I question the fundamentals of this argument. First, the quarantining effect of derogations is often proven by references to military emergencies. I argue that health emergencies are substantively different from the military ones and it is incorrect to draw direct parallels between them. Secondly, I argue that human rights enshrined in the ECHR have a “natural quarantining effect” and Article 15 derogations are unable to change the Court’s approach to human rights during the pandemic significantly.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	26 May 2020 09:09
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:51
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3088451