COVID-19
EMERGENCY POWERS IN A PANDEMIC
As lockdowns became a prominent feature of Caribbean life in a region fighting to stave off COVID-19, academics debated the appropriate legal framework for imposing such restrictions on civilian movement.
Dr. Alan Greene Senior Lecturer Birmingham Law School, United Kingdom
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CHILL NEWS
LOCKDOWN
S
enior Lecturer at the Birmingham Law School in the United Kingdom (UK) and author of the book Emergency Powers in a Time of Pandemic, Dr. Alan Greene said lockdowns are “100 percent necessary” though such restrictions not only affected individuals who are sick but the healthy as well. However, he argued that a formal declaration of emergency was the best route to take in the UK and neighbouring countries. Dr. Greene was speaking
during a Faculty of Law forum to examine the restriction issue amid growing debate about the use of such measures to curb public movement. His presentation focused on protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law during a pandemic and was delivered as part of the faculty’s Eminent Speaker Series in March 2021 when lockdowns had begun to take effect. He made specific reference to the situation in Europe, notably Article 15 of the European Convention of Human Rights that explains that in times of war or public emergency, states may take measures derogating from the convention. However, there is a caveat that those measures must be proportionate to the exigencies of the situation. “Although emergencies can damage human rights and damage constitutional norms— because we are sacrificing those constitutional norms by damaging human rights and we’re allowing certain things that ordinarily wouldn’t be permissible—I
