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This book explores the effect of the pandemic on human rights; civil and political rights (CPR); economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR); and freedoms around the world.The COVID-19 pandemic radically changed many aspects of the lives of individuals and entire societies. This crisis and the unprecedented experience required extraordinary solutions, regulations, and rapid responses from decision-makers to limit the spread of the disease and protect societies. To this end, during this period, many countries chose to impose states of emergency, resulting in the granting of extraordinary powers to the executive. This has sometimes been a very convenient pretext for introducing various types of restrictions, oppressive surveillance, and other legal arrangements that can be qualified as human rights violations. The authors make a scholarly summary of this period, identifying possible rights violations — but above all — recommendations for the future. This crisis has shown how important it is to have universal, equitable health and social protection systems that cover all community members equally and without discrimination, and the authors remodel the concept of'human rights'and'human needs'. The book covers varied examples from lockdowns to vaccination to information control, across Spain, Poland, South Africa and Uganda, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Ukraine, and Russia.This book will appeal to higher-level students and scholars of law, political science, and international relations and will also be helpful for public policymakers at national and international levels.

This book examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered a new and challenging environment in which borders drawn around people, places, and social structures have hardened and new ones have emerged.Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, borders closed or became unwelcoming at the international, national, sub-national, and local levels. Debate persists as to whether those countries and territories that tightly managed their borders, like New Zealand, Australia, or Hong Kong, got it ‘right'compared to those that did not. Without doubt, a majority of those who suffered and died throughout the pandemic have been those from vulnerable populations. Yet on the other hand, efforts taken to manage the spread of the disease, such as through border management, have also disproportionately affected those who are most vulnerable. How then is the right balance to be struck, acknowledging, too, the economic and other imperatives that may dissuade governments from taking public health steps? This book considers how international organizations, countries, and institutions within those countries should conceive of, and manage, borders as the world continues to struggle with COVID-19 and prepares for the next pandemic. Engaging a range of international, and sub-national, examples, the book thematizes the main issues at stake in the control and management of borders in the interests of public health.This book will be of considerable interest to academics in the fields of health law, anthropology, economics, history, medicine, public health, and political science, as well as policymakers and public health planners at national and sub-national levels.

This book considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the realisation of the United Nations'Sustainable Development Goals.Although efforts towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals are ongoing, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on these efforts: accentuating inequities, as well as absorbing resources. This book addresses this impact, as it takes up the question of how to ensure global recovery – in line with the target for the Sustainable Development Goals – after the pandemic. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, but focusing particularly on the role of law and legal frameworks in this recovery, the book considers the effect of the pandemic on key industries such as shipping, insurance, manufacturing, and banking, as well as on the role of the State and non-State actors. Pursuing an explicitly Global South perspective, the book maintains that in the post-COVID era it is the elaboration a rule of law framework that is in sync with both the Global North and South that is crucial if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved.This book will be of value to scholars, students and policymakers working in the general area of law and development, but especially those with specific interests in the United Nations'Sustainable Development Goals.

This book provides a novel in-depth study of the early pandemic response policy at the intersection of political economy and law. It explores: (1) whether the responses to COVID-19 were democratically accountable; (2) the ways in which new surveillance and enforcement techniques were adopted; (3) the new monetary and fiscal policies which were implemented; (4) the ways in which employed and unemployed persons were differently impacted by the new policies; and (5) how companies were economically sustained through the pandemic. A compelling look at what happens to societies when disaster strikes, this book will be of interest to legal scholars, political scientists and economists.

The hospitality and construction industries are international economic drivers, with complex economic relationships and diverse legal issues. Cases and rulings are not static and move along a continuum in time and context. The evolution of legal agreements and disputes in hospitality and construction are not confined to any sort of strict schedule. This volume addresses the many cases and experiences of parties, counsel and arbitrators during the pandemic, and discusses issues such as key contract provisions, the impact of the COVID pandemic on investment treaties, and access to arbitral institutions.

This book reviews the efficacy of Global Health Law, assessing why its legal framework based on the International Health Regulations did not represent a valid tool in the containment of modern global pandemics such as COVID-19. The book provides an introduction to the international legal framework surrounding epidemics and pandemics and the main global governance issues that have been generated by the COVID-19 outbreak. It highlights the main shortcomings of Global Health Law, while also including practical proposals to improve the WHO's mechanism to prevent and respond to future disease outbreaks, such as the New Pandemic Treaty. Emphasis is placed on what has not worked in the international, regional and national responses to COVID-19. It is argued that the pandemic has shed light on the weaknesses of global and domestic health law. By identifying legal gaps and providing legal arguments, the book contributes to the historical and conceptual foundation as well as the practical development of international law in the new age of COVID-19, with the ultimate goal of stimulating legal reform in this vital new era. The work will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in International Law, Health Law, Environmental Law, Human Rights Law, Biolaw, and the Law of International Organizations.

COVID-19 is the most severe pandemic the world has experienced in a century. This book analyses major legal and regulatory responses internationally to COVID-19, and the impact the pandemic has had on human rights and freedoms, governance, the obligations of states and individuals, as well the role of the World Health Organization and other international bodies during this time. The authors examine notable legal challenges to public health measures enforced during the pandemic, such as lockdown orders, curfews, and vaccine mandates. Importantly, the book contextualizes the legal analysis by examining the broader social and economic dimensions of risks posed by the pandemic. The book considers how COVID-19 impacted the operation of the criminal justice system, civil litigation concerning negligently caused deaths and business losses arising from contractual breaches, consumer protection litigation, disciplinary regulation of health practitioners, coronial inquests and other investigations of unexpected deaths, and occupational health and safety issues. The book reflects on the role of the law in facilitating the remarkable scientific and epidemiological achievements during the pandemic, but also the challenges of ensuring the swift production and equitable distribution of treatments and vaccines. It concludes by considering the possibilities that the legal and regulatory responses to this pandemic have illuminated for effectively tackling future global health crises.

This book offers a novel study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on insurance from an international and comparative perspective. It assesses how insurance has to adapt to a new landscape, the effects of which will last over time and cut across all areas of the field. To avoid physical contact, digitalisation has accelerated dramatically, affecting insurance in all its phases: risk selection, underwriting, pricing and claims settlement. However, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic go far beyond that. The extent to which a claim caused directly or indirectly by the virus is or is not covered by a given policy has been the subject of debate in many insurance branches. The most litigated cases worldwide are those that concern damages resulting from business interruption due to restrictions enforced by the authorities in virtually every country. This book analyses the rulings (for and against the insured) that have already been handed down by courts in various jurisdictions (for example in the US, Latin America, Spain and Germany), in order to provide guidance to the parties in future lawsuits and also to guide the courts'own responses. This analysis extends to the measures that governments have taken in relation to insurance during the pandemic, as well as the changes that insurers have introduced in their general conditions to exclude coverage for the pandemic. This response is unsatisfactory, as the big question is how pandemic-related risks can be covered if private insurers simply refuse to do so. Solutions based on risk sharing with public entities or the use of contractual modalities such as parametric insurance are among those outlined by the authors. The book was written by experts from academia and lawyers specialising in this field, and written for all those interested in the field of insurance: lawyers, judges, academics and legal professionals.

The COVID-19 pandemic not only ravaged human bodies but also had profound and possibly enduring effects on the health of political and legal systems, economies and societies. Almost overnight, governments imposed the severest restrictions in modern times on rights and freedoms, elections, parliaments and courts. Legal and political institutions struggled to adapt, creating a catalyst for democratic decline and catastrophic increases in poverty and inequality. This handbook analyses the global pandemic response through five themes: governance and democracy; human rights; the rule of law; science, public trust and decision making; and states of emergency and exception. Containing 12 thematic commentaries and 25 chapters on countries of diverse size, wealth and experience of COVID-19, it represents the combined effort of more than 50 contributors, including leading scholars and rising voices in the fields of constitutional, international, public health, human rights and comparative law, as well as political science, and science and technology studies. Taking stock after the onset of global emergency, this book provides essential analysis for politicians, policy-makers, jurists, civil society organisations, academics, students and practitioners at both national and international level on the best, and most concerning, practices adopted in response to COVID-19 – and key insights into how states and multilateral institutions should reform, adapt and prepare for future emergencies.

This book presents an exploration of a wide range of issues in law, regulation and legal rights in the sectors of information protection, the creative economy and business activities following COVID-19. The debilitative effect of the global pandemic on information protection and creative and business activities is powerful, widespread and deeply influential, bringing a range of uncertainties to these sectors. The effects of the crisis challenge the fundamentals of the legal systems of most countries in their attempt to govern them. Written by international academics from a diversified background of law disciplines and legal systems, this book offers a global vision in exploring the wide range of legal issues caused by the COVID-19 crisis in these fields. The book is organised into three clear thematic parts: Part I looks at information protection and intellectual property rights and strategies; Part II examines contracts, cooperation and mediation in the post-COVID-19 market arena; and Part III discusses issues pertaining to corporate governance and employment rights. The book explores the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic crisis from a global perspective. It will provide invaluable information and guidance in this area to those in the fields of law, politics and economics whose interests are related to information, business and the creative industry, as well as providing indispensable reading to business practitioners and public servants.

This book presents an international and comparative exploration of how the COVID-19 global pandemic has affected and impacted on issues of human rights, security, and law. Throughout the world, the COVID-19 global pandemic has fundamentally impacted and altered our way of life. As this book sets out, all states have had to contend with similar challenges as well as competing interests and obligations affecting human rights and security. These challenges present very few simple choices but nonetheless carry enormous consequences. Organised into two thematic and distinct yet interrelated parts, first on theoretical and practical challenges for human rights and second on threats to personal, collective, and global security, the book examines how the ability of states to safeguard our fundamental rights and security, broadly defined, has been challenged. Questions about the legality and legal impact of recent responses to COVID-19 will persist for some time. It is often said that global problems require coordinated global solutions, but the various responses to the pandemic by states suggest a notable lack of a consensus amongst the international community. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers working in the areas of human rights law and security law. It will also appeal to constitutional lawyers, given the nature of law-making and the challenge of ensuring adequate scrutiny in emergency situations as well as the impact of COVID-19 upon the legal framework more generally. It will provide a valuable resource for policymakers, practitioners, and public servants.

The chapters in this volume focus on the future of law and related disciplines: human rights and access to medical care, corruption and money laundering in state procurement, counterfeit medical products, IPR waiver on COVID-19 vaccines, emergency powers, freedom of expression, prison healthcare, the impact on labour law, access to courts and digital court processes, access to education and the impact on insurance law are but a few possible topics which are addressed.

Harmonisation of law, a term that refers to an effort to bring two different legal traditions in harmony with one another, has developed a rather negative connotation over time when mentioned in the context of Shari'ah and common law. Harmonisation began to be looked at as an attempt by one legal system to impose its values on the other. A major reason for that is the lack of understanding of the scope to which these two legal traditions converge. One of the principal findings of this book is that Shari'ah and common law have many more commonalities than differences. As a result, the need for harmonisation between the two might have been exaggerated. The similarities do not need to be harmonised. Rather, they need to be acknowledged and appreciated. If the differences between Shari'ah and common law, which undoubtedly exist as evidenced in this book, are approached from the position of appreciation for commonalities, the ambiance to reconcile the differences would be more conducive to the harmonisation process which would, in that case, be reflective of compromise. This book is intended to help readers better understand Shari'ah and common law and aid harmonization efforts when needed.