HR in Quarantine: Sec. Gen. to Open Digital Session of St Petersburg Legal Forum

Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić, Vice-President of the Russian Federation’s Security Council Dmitriy Medvedev, and World Health Organisation Director-General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus will address the high-level plenary session of the special digital edition of St.-Petersburg Legal Forum on Friday, 10 April 2020, at 12h00 local time (11h00 Strasbourg time).

The event held online under the general title “Rule of Corona” will look at the measures taken by international organizations and individual states in response to the COVID19 pandemic and their impact on public health, economy, social fabric, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The plenary session will be followed at 15h00 local time (14h00 Strasbourg time) on 10 April by an online debate on human rights under quarantine co-chaired by Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General for Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe.

The debate will look at the viability of European legal systems and their capacity to shape an effective response to the pandemic without undermining our common values enshrined in national constitutions and international treaties. Issues to be debated include:

  • How to ensure that states’ legitimate duty to protect life of the nation does not turn into arbitrariness and disproportionate interference with our lives?
  • To what extent should the state’s primary responsibility for containing the crisis be checked by other states’ peer review?
  • How does the crisis change the role of international institutions in assisting states and coordinating their responses to the catastrophe?

To follow the debate, register at https://spblegalforum.com/en/registration/online

09 April 2020 12:39