SAS Open Journals
Not a member yet
4299 research outputs found
Sort by
Monitoring and Evaluating the Impact (Post-Legislative Scrutiny) of Emergency Regulation in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Nigeria
Get PDFThe threat posed by passing emergency laws and policies in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic can be said to be a critical precursor of human rights abuses. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigerian President issued the COVID-19 REGULATION 2020 exercising his powers under the Federal Quarantine Act, CAP Q2 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. Based on this, the Nigerian Federal Government has undertaken stringent measures, enforced restrictions and cessation of movement, social and economic activities in Nigeria to curtail the pandemic. Nigeria has employed human control to stop the disease's spread, including travel bans, quarantine orders, social distancing, and lockdowns. The measures applied to curtail the spread of COVID-19 have an undoubted impact on human rights.The Nigerian government implemented these restrictive measures which impinge on human rights and democratic processes with authoritarian provisions. This study analyses the emergency measures implemented by the Nigerian government and human rights' infractions and considers Post-Legislative Scrutiny to mitigate the government's legislative actions as a safeguard for human rights and democracy in Nigeria.To ensure true democracy, Nigerian regulations, laws, and policy response to COVID-19 must align with international human rights commitments. And the temporarily imposed restrictions on rights are reviewed by the Legislature and do not become permanent. Questions to be addressed in this paper are: (1) Is the breadth of powers currently enjoyed by executive bodies, such as Public Health authorities and security forces under scrutiny and review of the Legislature? (2) Are there safeguards put in place by the Legislature, as an oversight to ensure democratic rule and respect for human rights in Nigeria?The paper uses the qualitative research method. It relies on content analysis of COVID-19 regulatory and legislative provisions, academic literature, articles, journals, and newspaper publications
Coronavirus and Effects on the Rule of Law: How Fundamental Rights Live with Mass Surveillance Technologies in Democratic Systems – An Analysis of Europe and Italy in a Global View
Get PDFIn the management of the Coronavirus Pandemic, law is called to play a synergistic role with the science to guarantee the public order and safety. In the European context Italy is to be examined, i.e. the first state in Europe to launch containment measures of the spread of the virus and to protect public health.
Through a comparative approach, the purpose here is to examine the assumptions and the impact of the emergency legislation on the Italian democratic system. Evaluating within what limits fundamental human rights and freedoms’ compression can be legitimated on a national and international basis in exceptional events allow to analyse the relative reflections on the rule of law. Finally, the discussion focuses on the compatibility of using mass surveillance technologies on the International and European regulatory framework where balancing techniques and the principle of proportionality represent the core in framing the regulatory activity. Despite undoubted short-term benefits, the concern is to safeguard both the protection of personal data and health, in the face of this 'invisible enemy', considering that the link between emergency regulation and prolonged compression of rights in technological innovation requires special attention
The Hellenic Parliament’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Balancing Act between Necessity and Realism
Get PDFBecause of their particular nature, representative institutions around the globe are usually well equipped, both legally and capacity-wise, to adequately respond to political crises; this is what political evolution has taught them. Responses to political crises have been developed and take the form of formal or informal rules of procedure that lie at the disposal of the Speaker or other parliamentary functionaries. On the contrary, battling a health crisis does not immediately belong to the issues a parliament under normal circumstances deals with. Hence, the scattered responses by the world’s parliaments, as pointed out by recent studies, come as no surprise. This article showcases the Hellenic Parliament, which constitutes a classic example of a legislature combating the pandemic situation through a gradual and multidimensional response. Its relevant actions are displayed and analysed vis à vis the average global response. As the pandemic seems far from being over, the article attempts a series of future projections on how to deal with it in the long run
Simplification to the Immigration Rules and its effects
Get PDFThe Immigration Rules hold paramount importance in controlling and monitoring the UK borders and non-British population. These rules expansively dictate the boundaries and movements of every non-British citizen; hence, they are relied upon widely by public bodies and the judiciary. The Immigration Act 1971 was initially passed to control the UK immigration system. However, the law under this statute has been developed on an ad hoc basis, which has resulted in a convoluted set of laws being established.
The complexity of these laws stems predominantly from statutory provisions being continuously updated or amended and subjective judicial interpretations of the Immigration Rules being mostly inconsistent. These issues are exacerbated further by the ever-evolving social change surrounding immigration. These difficulties concerning the current Immigration Rules have led the Law Commission in its 13th programme of law reform to propose the idea that Immigration Rules need simplification urgently
From PhD Thesis to Monograph: A Reflective Account of the Process
Get PDFThis essay provides a personal and reflective account of the process of adapting a PhD thesis, which was written for a panel of examiners to demonstrate academic competence, to a monograph, which in simple terms is written for a wide audience including students and academics with the aim of communicating ideas. It is hoped that this article provides insight to postdoctoral researchers who may be thinking about submitting a proposal to a publisher for adaptation of their PhD thesis to a monograph.
Keywords: thesis adaptation; monograph; academic publishers
Should We Rethink the Purposes of the Law School? A Case for Decolonial Thought in Legal Pedagogy
Get PDFThis article argues that there is a need for more transdisciplinary and decolonial approaches to knowledge production in law. These approaches need to go beyond a focus on diversity which only seeks ways for marginal voices and experiences to be absorbed into a hierarchized structure of knowledge production that in turn [re]produces a hierarchized world. New ways must be sought to ensure that, in reconsidering the purposes of law and law schools, legal education does not reproduce inequalities but unravels them. Thereby legal education may do more than just add to and diversify the profession but may aspire to transform the world.
Keywords: decolonization; legal education; decolonial thought
Uncertainty, Ignorance and Decision-Making: Looking Through the Lens of Modelling the Covid-19 Pandemic
Get PDFA great deal of decision-making during crises is about coping with uncertainty. For rulemakers, this poses a fundamental challenge, as there has been a lack of a rigorous framework for understanding and analysing the nature and function of uncertainty in the context of rulemaking. In coping with crises, modelling has become a governance tool to navigate and tame uncertainty and justify decisions. This is because models, in particular mathematical models, can be useful to produce precise answers in numbers. This article examines the challenges rulemakers are facing in an uncertain world and argues that one of the most important challenges lies in rulemakers’ failures to understand the nature of uncertainty and ignorance in the contested arena of science for decision-making. It focuses on the relationship between uncertainty, ignorance and decisionmaking through a case study of the interaction between modelling and rulemaking in the Covid-19 pandemic. In so doing, this article provides an alternative strategy to number- and model-based rulemaking in an uncertain world. It provokes a rethinking of using science to measure and govern human affairs and the impact of numbers and quantification on law.
Keywords: uncertainty; ignorance; decision-making; rulemaking; models; mathematical modelling; quantification; Covid-19
The Role of Medical Professionals in Shaping Healthcare Law during Covid-19
Get PDFThis article explores the changing nature of the allocation of healthcare resources during the Covid-19 crisis and how it may have shaped a new role for medical professionals in healthcare law and policymaking. It contrasts the traditional input of medical professionals in systemic healthcare reforms (1946, 1990 and 2012) with their role in the elaboration of ethical emergency guidance published by the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians in March–April 2020, using a discourse analysis methodology and concepts borrowed from political philosophy.
Keywords: Covid-19; medical professionals; healthcare law and policy; ethics; justice; emergency guidance