Academic Scientific JournalsThe Right to Health, Global Solidarism and International Law’s Constitutional Momentum in the Age of Covid-19
Keywords:
health law, right to health, covid-19, global constitutionalism, human rights, international law, political legitimacyAbstract
In this contribution, I claim that in the face of the global pandemics, international solidarism in protecting and realizing right to health as well as other human rights is not only a legal obligation but also a matter of legitimacy of the system. Using Ronald Dworkin’s view of the moral foundations of international law, I argue for a global constitutionalist project. The essay starts with a brief overview of the present situation of human rights in the face of the pandemic and implies that choosing between human rights protection and emergency laws to save allegedly more fundamental goods is a false way of framing the issue (section 1). Instead, realizing human right to health (section 2) is a legal obligation to be pursued by each state individually as well as in cooperation with others. Section 3 undertakes the analysis of the legal philosophical and political justification for the obligation to cooperate internationally. Last but not least, a view of a constitutionalized legal order that is more apt in addressing the coming age of global threats and coordination problems is briefly presented (section 4).
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