MAR COS E CHE VAR R IA | OPINION
DOE S COV ID - 19 EN DAN GER OU R F U NDAMEN TAL R I GH T S ? APPLICATIONS G E O -T R AF F I CK I N G O U R ST EPS , CO NF INEM EN T S PR O HIBI T ING G ATH ER I N G S AN D B O R D ER S CLO SED SHU T : COV ID - 19 HA S ME AN T TH E AB AT EM EN T O F SO M E O F O U R M O ST F U NDAM EN TAL R IG H T S . TH E PER SPE C T I V E D ISCUS SE S T HE PO LI T ICAL PR O CEDU R E S IN EU R OPE TH AT H AV E AF F E C T ED O U R F R EEDO MS DU R ING T HE O NGO ING PAN D EM I C – WH I LE AL SO S AV ING LI V E S .
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OVID-19 has brought a health crisis of unprecedented nature into our lives. Governments, stunned by the rapid wave of events unfolding as the virus spread, were forced to adopt abrupt measures to protect their citizens. The EU alone has a reported figure around six million infections at the point of writing, with countries like Spain or France suffering from approximately one million cases each. To exacerbate matters, we are now approaching what appears to be a second wave of infections as COVID cases begin to intensify once more. Some of the worst hit countries in the EU, such as the Czech Republic or Belgium, have recorded over 70,000 new cases in just one week.
those efforts to control the virus created a major conflict within our liberal system of society. Albeit unintentionally, they posed a challenge to our most fundamental freedoms.
In their endeavour to stop the virus from further expanding, infecting more people and collapsing entire healthcare systems, the governments of heavily affected countries, such as Italy or Spain, were forced to initiate a state of emergency. The World Health Organization officially declared the spread of the virus a pandemic on March 11. These then proceeded to take action against the virus through the isolation of most of the population, submitting its people to rigorous control and limiting our mobility. Such was done for the greater good of the community, to ensure utmost safety and guard those considered to be at a higher risk of death. While saving lives is always the main priority,
The use of apps to collect our data and location helps governments to track how the virus spreads— but it may present a clash with the right to privacy if these are made compulsory. The obligation to isolate at home reduces the spread of the infection, but also interferes with our right to free movement, association and assembly. Although these measures are backed by the law of emergency, the debate certainly offers an interesting reflection on the priority of safety against the importance of fundamental ideas. Arguably one the most controversial responses to the virus was the use of surveillance instruments that avail of GPS and Bluetooth to track people's
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British philosopher and economist, John Stuart Mill and his Harm Principle teaches us that individuals ought to be free to do as they wish as long as their actions do not harm others. COVID-19 has posed a huge dilemma to this avowal as democratic leaders are confronted with the challenge of ensuring that their civilians live up to their responsibilities of not harming others—by passing the virus onto another person—and the preservation of their most basic liberties.
