FEATU R E
Justice, Peace, Security and Well-Being IN THE WORLD DURING THE PANDEMIC Previous Chairman of Council, The Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone, is President of the International Association of Judges and spoke at the Second International Conference on World Day for International Justice held remotely on the 17th July 2021 and organised by the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India. This World Day is observed across the globe every year to mark an emerging modern system of justice against international criminal acts.
borders have been closed and as travel restrictions have prevented couples, children and grandparents to meet. Elderly people in nursing homes have died alone and have had reduced care despite the best of intentions. Depression, mental health, loneliness, frustration and suicides have all increased as personal freedoms and freedom of movement has decreased. And there is also the economic cost of the measures imposed to protect our health about which he has said nothing.
His Hon began his presentation by noting that the topic of ‘Justice, peace, security and well-being in the world during the pandemic’ chosen for the Conference this year is both essential to be discussed and very difficult.
Judges, lawyers and the agencies of law enforcement have supported and maintained the restrictions, but it is important to question whether we have made the correct choices. Restrictions to protect public health are often based upon broad powers intended for very different circumstances. Many of the powers which have been invoked to deal with the pandemic are based upon emergency powers intended to deal with emergencies of relatively short duration and with little lasting consequence once the emergency has passed. The laws designed for emergencies are an exception to ordinary life and their use damages the balance to rights which are carefully created over years and at times after struggle, costs and compromises.
It is essential because the responses by authorities throughout the world have had to balance, and in part to sacrifice, each of the elements chosen for the topic of the theme of this conference. The response to the pandemic has necessarily involved reorganisation of priorities in every country, with rights and expectations having given way to claims of different needs and different priorities. The cost of the pandemic has been great however that cost is measured. Justice, peace, security and well-being have all suffered as a direct result of the measures taken to protect us during the pandemic. Criminal, as well as civil, trials have been delayed and the finely balanced processes in our judicial, legal and law enforcement systems have been compromised. Increased domestic violence has been imposed upon people who have been told to stay at home. Some families have been separated as 16
Many rights have been suspended and some may be forever modified. In recent days we have seen introduced the requirement in some democratic countries that a government issued pass must be presented for a citizen to be permitted to exercise the ordinary ability of attending a café. The need in some places for a “green pass” may be thought necessary for public health but it means that we will
