ICON•S Conference on Global Problems and Prospects in Public Law 2022

The ICON•S Conference on Global Problems and Prospects in Public Law is one of the most important public law events of 2022. Featuring plenary sessions, concurrent panels, interest groups, workshop, and social events, it will bring together scholars and practicioners from all parts of the world and all areas of public law—administrative, constitutional, international and beyond.

"Although Global pandemics have been a recurrent concern, the COVID 19 pandemic brought to the fore the profound limitations of the current regulatory regime, both at the international and domestic levels, while the unilateral initiatives by governments and international organisations raise concerns of normative coherence. At the international level, the World Health Organization (WHO) has focused on assessing its own preparedness and the adequacy of its handling of the COVID 19 pandemic, with a view to developing effective frameworks for facing similar health threats in the future. What legal role has the WHO played in the seemingly fragmented national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic? What role should the WHO play in future pandemics on issues like information-sharing and equity in the global distribution of medicines, considering its limited powers?

At the national level many states undertook emergency measures to reduce and prevent the risks of harm to their populations. Some of these measures are difficult to reconcile with human rights norms under existing international instruments, and with rules and principles of democratic government, rights and liberties under the constitutional regimes of most States. Are there overarching values that ought to inform restrictions on freedom of movement and expression even in the face of medical emergencies?

Many pandemic emergency measures, even when well intentioned, have been criticised for being over-broad, and left in place for too long, raising concern for the long-term effect on democratic governance. How can we prevent global health emergencies from fuelling democratic backsliding?"

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