Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 October 2020
This Essay considers how adjudicators could determine the end of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Considerable work examines the beginning and existence of pandemics and emergencies. By contrast, when either of these two phenomena end remains underexplored—creating legal uncertainty. This Essay reviews how pandemics as biological and social events end, considers how international bodies have approached the end of emergencies, and assesses what this might mean for adjudicators deciding on the end of the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic and related public health emergency.
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17 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice: An Introduction to Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistics 14 (3rd ed. 2012) (“epidemic occurring over a widespread area (multiple countries or continents) and usually affecting a substantial proportion of the population”).
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25 WHO Press Release, WHO Recommended Criteria for Declaring the End of the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak (Mar. 4, 2020), at https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-recommended-criteria-for-declaring-the-end-of-the-ebola-virus-disease-outbreak.
26 At least, in the case of influenza epidemics. Jonathan Van Tam & Chloe Sellwood, Introduction to Pandemic Influenza (2010).
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34 Amy Mckeever, Coronavirus is Officially a Pandemic. Here's Why that Matters, Nat'l Geographic (Mar. 11, 2020), at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/02/how-coronavirus-could-become-pandemic-and-why-it-matters.
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38 International Health Regulations, at 22 n. 114, May 23, 2005, 2509 UNTS 79 [hereinafter IHR].
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42 IHR, supra note 38, Art. 15(2).
43 Id. Art. 15(3).
44 Id. Art. 16.
45 Eyal Benvenisti, The WHO – Destined to Fail?: Political Cooperation and the COVID-19 Pandemic, 114 AJIL 588.
46 IHR, supra note 38, Arts. 12(5), 48(1)(b), 49(6).
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48 WHO Press Release, Fifth Meeting of the Emergency Committee Under the International Health Regulations (2005) Regarding Microcephaly, Other Neurological Disorders and Zika virus (Nov. 18, 2016), at https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/18-11-2016-fifth-meeting-of-the-emergency-committee-under-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-regarding-microcephaly-other-neurological-disorders-and-zika-virus [hereinafter Fifth EC Meeting].
49 IHR, supra note 38, Art. 15; Lawrence O. Gostin, Global health law 195 (2014).
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51 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as Amended by Protocols No. 11 and No. 14 (European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)), Art. 15, Nov. 4, 1950, ETS; 5 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Art. 4, Dec. 16. 1966, 999 UNTS 171; American Convention on Human Rights, Art. 27, Nov. 22, 1969. On which, see Human Rights in Emergencies, at chs. 2–3 (Evan J. Criddle ed., 2016); Gross & Aoláin, supra note 1, ch. 5; Higgins, Rosalyn, Derogations Under Human Rights Treaties, 48 Brit. Y.B. Int'l L. 281 (1977)Google Scholar; UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR General Comment No. 29: Article 4: Derogations During a State of Emergency, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11 (Aug. 31, 2001) [hereinafter GC29].
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53 For example, the UK's derogations to the ECHR in relation to the Northern Irish conflict from 1969 until 2001. William A. Schabas, European Convention of Human Rights: A Commentary 597 (2015).
54 Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v. Greece, App. Nos. 3321/67, 3322/67, 3323/67, and 3344/67, Commission Report paras. 143–44 (Nov. 5, 1969).
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58 GC29, supra note 51, para. 2.
59 ECtHR, Guide on Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights, para. 10 (Dec. 31, 2019), available at https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_15_ENG.pdf.
60 Council of Europe, Respecting Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in the Framework of the COVID-19 Sanitary Crisis: A Toolkit for Member States, Information Documents, SG/Ing(2020)11, at 3 (Apr. 7, 2020).
61 A. and Others v. the United Kingdom, App. no. 3455/05, para. 177 (Eur. Ct. H.R. Feb. 19, 2009).
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65 LG&E Energy Corp., LG&E Capital Corp., and LG&E International, Inc. v Argentine Republic, ICSID Case No. ARB/02/1, Decision on Liability, para. 227 (Oct. 3, 2006).
66 Id., para. 228.
67 Id., para. 261.
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74 Gross & Aoláin, supra note 1, at 283 (“structural inability to deal credibly with permanent emergencies”).
75 Among others, these decisions mention, but do not analyze the global-local interface. Affaire Mamatas et Autres c. Grèce, App. No. 63066/14, para. 101 (Eur. Ct. H.R. July 21, 2016); Poštová Banka and Istrokapital v. Hellenic Republic, ICSID Case No. ARB/13/8, Award, para. 46 (Apr. 9, 2015), and Annulment, para. 19 (Sept. 29, 2016); Theodoros Adamakopoulos v. Cyprus, ICSID Case No. ARB/15/49, Decision on Jurisdiction (Feb. 7, 2020); Khalifa and Others v. Italy, App. No. 16483/12 (Eur. Ct. H.R. Dec. 15, 2016).
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