Reflections regarding the Rule of Law and Human Rights during States of Emergency
Reflections regarding the Rule of Law and Human Rights during States of Emergency

Summary/Abstract: The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe has led Member States to take a number of emergency measures to stop the virus. Most EU Member States’ governments have called for states of emergency to carry out health checks, to restrict domestic and international travel, to close stores and public places, schools and universities and to drastically restrict individual freedom of movement and association. States of emergency are special situations designed to deal with exceptional crisis situations that derogate from the normal functioning of the democratic state based on checks and balance and the full retention of our fundamental rights and freedoms. European history shows us that a state of emergency can turn a democracy based on the rule of law and fundamental rights into a totalitarian, oppressive and aggressive regime. Through this analysis we propose a preliminary assessment, in terms of proportionality, of the declaration of the state of emergency and the inherent increase of government powers (sometimes also of the police and military) and the correlative weakening of parliamentary and justice powers, causing a serious blurring of the lines that separate the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. These actions resulted in an imbalance in the system of checks and balances that underlies democracy, but also in the restriction of human rights and fundamental freedoms, by derogating from the obligations under Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), possible if exceptional public danger threatens the existence of the nation

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