EDITOR’S NOTE

By Tanja Porčnik*

Any pandemic is not only a threat to the health and safety of the people but may also lead to other significant threats to them.

In times of great national uncertainty, the government is called upon to act, and the present pandemic is no exception. In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic exigencies, governments around the world have taken vast and unparalleled decisions to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus and protect lives. Indisputably, many of those measures have directly or indirectly curtailed our human rights and freedoms.

Crucially, in such times, policymakers are not only expected to impose and enforce proportionate legal measures to address the pandemic, but also should maintain or even strengthen an institutional environment with secure rights and freedoms that will enable the country to better cope with the crisis and recover from it more quickly afterward.

In this context, the most important question is, have human rights shaped responses to an unprecedented and global crisis, or have they been mandated at their expense? Also, have coronavirus emergency measures perhaps been abused for attacks on human rights?

It is with great pleasure that I present Volume 6 of The Visio Journal that features four papers exploring the answers to these and other related questions.

* Tanja Porčnik is President of Visio institut and editor of The Visio Journal.

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The Rights and Challenges of South Asian Migrants in Romania during the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Vlad I. ROȘCA*

Since the 2015 refugee crisis onwards, the yearly quota of working permits for Third Country Nationals (TCNs) offered by the Romanian Government has gradually increased, reaching 25,000 in 2020. An important category of TCNs working in Romania are people from South Asia, mainly Indian, Bangladeshi, Sinhalese or Nepali migrants. Most of them are low-skilled workers employed in the primary or secondary sectors of the economy. Apart from the socio-cultural barriers towards integration that these migrants face, the year 2020 exposed them to yet another risk of vulnerability to the dangers of social exclusion: the COVID-19 crisis. In August and October 2020, several pest holes of COVID-19 infections have been reported in South Asian migrant communities in Romania. Poor standards of living, deficitary public policies and delayed political decision-making have done little else than to deprive TCN workers of some basic human rights, while also increasing their vulnerability and exposing their host communities to even higher health risks. This article uses a mixed method of digital ethnography and community research to investigate if and how the human rights of South Asian TCNs in Romania were respected in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and what effects there were on their quality of life and standard of living. The research will focus on how public policies and measures have been employed to address the COVID-19 crisis that emerged within South Asian migrant communities in Romania and on how the rights of migrants have been respected during the deployment of such measures.

Key words: international migration, quality of life, refugees, asylum seekers, pandemic.

* Vlad I. Roșca is Lecturer at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Faculty of Business Administration in foreign languages.

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Constitutional Mithridatism: Fundamental Rights in Times of a Pandemic 

By Spyridon VLACHOPOULOS*

Measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic have limited a number of fundamental rights to an unprecedented extent. The rights of economic activity, movement, assembly and religious worship have been subjected to the most severe restrictions.

Here, however, lies the great danger of the gradual consolidation of a constitutional mithridatism, which will make us addicted to the idea of losing our fundamental rights for the sake of protecting superior legally protected rights. Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity. Recently, however, the term has resurfaced in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the adoption of emergency measures restricting fundamental rights. In this context, two points should be stressed: first, the recent measures are justified to protect the health of a large number of our fellow citizens, but they are an exceptional case that cannot be repeated in the face of any other ‘enemy’. And, second, even in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the rule of law sets inviolable limits. It would be, for example, obviously unconstitutional in European liberal democracies to place cameras in public places and create a new Big Brother.

The issue is similar (without, of course, being the same) to that resulting from modern terrorism, especially after the attacks of 11 September 2001. At that time, there were many who were in favor of a super right to security and of the complete abolition of a series of individual rights, like the right not to be tortured, to human dignity, to communications confidentiality, and the right to a fair trial, in order to protect humanity from terrorism. But the European legal order resisted these attempts. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) declared (Gäfgen v. Germany, 22978/05, 2010) that torture was not justified even for the disclosure of the most heinous crimes, while the German Federal Constitutional Court (1BvR 357/05, 2006) ruled as unconstitutional (contrary to human dignity) a provision of the German Aviation Security Act allowing the armed forces to shoot down aircraft intended for use in acts of terrorism (this specific case involved an aircraft with crew and passengers that had been hijacked and flown to a residential area).

This paper intends to deal with the following questions: Can the suspension of fundamental rights in order to tackle the coronavirus pandemic threaten the health of democracy? Constitutional mithridatism refers to the danger of tolerating any restrictions on our rights, even after the end of extraordinary circumstances. Because even after their end, there is a risk that these restrictions on individual freedoms, such as our privacy, will continue or intensify with the use of new technological applications. How do we defend our legal culture?

Key words: mithridatism, pandemic, restrictions, human freedoms, fundamental rights, coronavirus.

*Dr. Spyridon Vlachopoulos is Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law, National and Κapodistrian University of Athens.

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Human Rights during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina

By Aldina JAHIĆ*, Merisa HASIĆ** and Admir ČAVALIĆ***

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, like many countries in the world, introduced a series of rigid measures to combat the crisis. These measures often violated the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the citizens. Measures at certain times and in certain places included a curfew, mandatory mask wearing in public, restricting the freedom of movement of young and old, mandatory quarantine after international travel, public disclosure of personal information about those who travelled, lock-in of certain cantons (regions), and the like. The paper analyses a broad spectrum of human rights and freedoms violations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while taking into account two significant characteristics of the country. First, Bosnia and Herzegovina is an extremely decentralized country, which means that COVID-19 measures are partially adopted by different governments. In practice, this means that half of the country has a curfew imposed and a half does not. Second, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not only independent but also protective of liberal values like the human rights. The main reason for this is that in addition to domestic judges, it is made up of foreign judges. Consequently, the Court has issued a series of judgments where the government’s actions have been declared unconstitutional. These and other cases of human rights violations will be analysed in this paper.

Key words: Bosnia and Herzegovina, COVID-19, human rights, Constitutional Court, federalism.

* Aldina Jahić is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Richmond Park School of Tuzla and member of Association Multi in B&H.

** Merisa Hasić is a lawyer at Cantonal Agency for Privatization in Tuzla, B&H.

*** Admir Čavalić is a doctoral student at University of Tuzla, economic analyst, and the founder of Association Multi in B&H.

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A Pandemic in a Pandemic: Domestic Violence in Croatia

By Igor ŠLOSAR*

In the fight against the global pandemic of COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced across the globe in order to protect the population against the virus. Lockdowns and other restrictions led to people spending more time at home than earlier. During the last year, second-hand consequences of long-lasting restrictions became visible. One of those is the rise in domestic violence. Often, the victims of such violence are women. Croatia has experienced a surge in cases of domestic violence and an increased influx of victims seeking shelter. The network of safe houses, shelters and call centers taking in these cases was already underfunded before the pandemic, and the increase in cases will only exacerbate the issues already present. The Croatian government has promised funds to increase the capacities of the system, but that has yet to materialise.

Key words: Croatia, domestic violence, pandemic, COVID-19, women, right to safety.

* Igor Šlosar is Advisor and member of the Executive Board of the Centre for Public Policy and Economic Analysis in Croatia.

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