The Covid19 Litigation Project is enabling the first database to make available litigation information on public health interventions taken in different countries around the world to fight the pandemic.
Covid19 Litigation Project: what it is about.
The University of Trento coordinates the scientific, administrative and operational management of the Covid-19 Litigation Project.
The project aims to provide accessibility to litigation related to public health measures adopted worldwide within the pandemic for:
- Governments and institutions that need to take action in emergency settings such as the pandemic.
- Courts facing unprecedented conflicts between the right to health and other fundamental rights, fundamental freedoms and other rights.
- Lawyers and legal experts who need to assist persons/institutions affected by the above decisions and measures.
- Scholars who engage in legal and interdisciplinary research in public health and related fields.
What is the purpose of the database?
The purpose of the database, accessible at www.covid19litigation.org, is to help judges around the world to make quick, internationally consistent decisions about the legitimacy of government decisions.
The project's challenge is to balance fundamental rights and freedoms. The legitimacy of public health measures decided by States to address COVID-19 is determined by judges and courts, who use the tool of law to balance health protection with other fundamental rights and to ensure rationality, reasonableness and proportionality of government interventions.
The database is the result of an international collaboration between a group of judges and scholars, with the coordination of the University of Trento and the financial support of the World Health Organization.
The selection of cases focuses on litigation concerning challenges to measures taken by States, including situations in which governments have failed to take public health action.
Cases published in the database come from jurisdictions in all regions of the world, and, where applicable, from supranational courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights.
By Simona Pettine, Lawyer
The database includes essential references on selected cases, as well as an English-language summary of the principles of law applied by the courts. The website will host a dedicated channel for case reporting by users of the database.
The database will be continuously updated.
