Link here

This event is the second in a series of three webinars.

States around the world have struggled to come up with the best legislative response to the coronavirus pandemic. Although each state has taken a different response, common issues have emerged. What is the role of the legislature, the executive and the courts? Are 'normal' laws enough, or is there a need for emergency measures? Are legislative measures within the constitution, or are they stretching it to breaking point? Do we need absolute scientific certainty before taking protective measures, or can we proceed without that evidence? Is the pandemic being used as an excuse to proceed without scrutiny? How best to regulate the emergency and the medical response?

The journal Theory and Practice of Legislation is publishing a special issue devoted to examining these issues. This webinar is being hosted by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in partnership with the journal. The authors of the papers will be presenting their findings at the webinar. The special issue is being edited by Dr Ronan Cormacain of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, and Dr Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov of Bar-Ilan University. In accordance with the Covid-19 policy of the publishers, all papers published will be made available free of charge online.

Link here

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This webinar will bring together parliamentarians from South Korea and the UK to discuss their countries’ respective responses to the COVID-19 crisis. The speakers will consider some of the innovative changes brought about by COVID-19 in both countries, including the introduction of telehealth platforms in the UK and the use of contact-tracing mobile applications in South Korea. They will share the lessons learned from their respective responses to the pandemic and discuss how societies can best balance the need for both privacy and technology.

This event is held in partnership with Yeosijae (Future Consensus Institute). The webinar will be recorded and simultaneously translated into Korean/English.

Link here

In this episode of BIG, If True, we’ll reflect on the hybrid battles being waged by journalists, activists, and dissidents against censorship and disinformation in Southeast Asia. The discussion will trace the genesis of the recent attacks on the freedom to expression, from the rise and fall of the Anti-Fake News Act in Malaysia to the conviction of Rappler CEO and Editor Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos over cyber libel charges — a conviction that has been widely reported as a strike against press freedom and democracy in the Philippines. In light of these extraordinary censorship measures, this webinar will chart the broader efforts being made by civil society to counter the repression of free speech.

Link here

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View the live broadcast without registration here

The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a global public health crisis. It has huge implications for democracies and fundamental rights around the world. Some governments are restricting civil liberties, discriminating in enforcement of pandemic-related measures, limiting parliamentary and civic oversight, and exploiting opportunities for executive aggrandizement in the name of fighting the pandemic.

Link here

We are pleased to announce the virtual RECONNECT Conference on “What Future for the European Union? Discussions on the Rule of Law and Democracy in the EU after COVID”, featuring a keynote address by Ms. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission for Democracy and Demography: ‘A new push for European democracy – the Conference on the Future of Europe’.

Join us for the full-day programme or tune in for a particular session.

Link here

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) are co-organizing a digital conference concentrating on the nature of emergency legislation adopted in various countries in response to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. The digital conference will be based on the presentation of research findings, and we welcome papers on national measures (emergency legislation) with a view to establishing, discussing and testing different sets of criteria of democracy and its processes. The aim is to amass enough information so that we can begin to tackle this narrative on the basis of factual information rather than assumptions.

Link here

As the COVID-19 crisis takes a devastating toll on lives and livelihoods across the continent, its effects on the democratic development of African countries becomes fundamental. While much attention has been paid to the question of its consequences for democratic and electoral processes, its impact on constitutionalism and the rule of law in these states has received relatively less attention. It is against this backdrop, that International IDEA is organizing, in partnership with the Department for Political Affairs (DPA) of the African Union Commission (AUC), a two and half (2.5) hour webinar around the theme: “The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law in North Africa Countries.”

Link here

IWPR and its FakeWatch Africa project are hosting an online discussion on the impact both coronavirus and the fake news infodemic are having on public discourse and civic participation in Africa.

As Covid-19 spreads across the African continent, false information and fake news accompany it. At the same time, civic life and elections must continue – Malawi, for instance, conducted presidential elections on June 23rd.

“Covid-19 and the fake news infodemic: What impact on democracy in Africa?” will bring together experts in the field for an in-depth hour-long discussion on June 30, 2020.

Link here

The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and the journal Theory and Practice of Legislation are happy to invite you to a series of three webinars on Global Legislative Responses to Coronavirus.

The first webinar will take place on June 30, 2020 at 14.00 - 16.00 BST, featuring:

Chair: Professor Helen Xanthaki Dean of PGLaws, University of London, President of the International Association of Legislation

Presentations:

• Emergency Legislation in Belgium at the crossroads of a political and a health crisis

• Quasi-State of Emergency: Assessing the Constitutionality of Ghana's Legislative Response to Covid-19

• Legislative Response to Coronavirus Switzerland

• COVID-19 Legislation in the Light of the Precautionary Principle

• The Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Brazilian Legal System - A Report on the Functioning of the Branches of the Government and on the Legal Scrutiny of Their Activities

• COVID-19 in Hungary and Poland: extraordinary situation and illiberal constitutionalism

Details here

The COVID19 pandemic has exasperated the fragile socio-economic situation in the Horn of Africa and has compounded existing and/or created new challenges to democratisation in the region. It has also arrived at a time when four of the six countries in the region are in a protracted security and political transition process. Somalia and South Sudan remain in a state of ‘permanent’ transition, and Ethiopia and Sudan, the regions biggest, amid a generational window of opportunity to bury the hatches of authoritarianism and securitization of politics. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the creation, sustenance and nurturing of an environment for building stable frameworks for constitutionalism and the rule of law in this “Region in Transition”, both in the short and long term, is therefore critical.

While there have been some efforts to understand and plan against the impacts of COVID-19, they have been isolated and lacked a comprehensive approach. Against this backdrop, International IDEA is organizing, in partnership with the Department for Political Affairs of the African Union Commission, a webinar around the theme: “The Impact of the COVID19 Crisis on Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law in the Horn of Africa.”

Link here

Link to join meeting here

In partnership with election management bodies (EMBs) and experts throughout the region, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and partner organizations will host a series of webinars on the administration of elections during the ongoing pandemic. These virtual discussions are designed to complement IFES guidance on holding elections and how EMBs can best prepare in these circumstances.

Link here

This online public event is free and open to all but pre-registration is required.

Register here

Over the last decade political authoritarianism has been on the rise across the globe. The ‘authoritarian wave’ has touched most continents and regions. So even before the crisis unleashed by Coronavirus many peoples across the world were resisting rising authoritarianism, nationalism and racism.

Coronavirus has often been talked of as a historical rupture, igniting system change. ‘We will not go back’ to the pre-crisis world is the clarion call of the current moment. Yet, the nature of the new world being born is still far from certain. And while opportunities for progressive political change undoubtedly exist, this new historical conjuncture provides considerable opportunities for the further embedding of authoritarianism and new attacks on democracy.

Link here

The Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, in partnership with UNESCO and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford), is hosting this webinar to discuss the challenges for freedom of expression, access to information, privacy and related rights posed by measures adopted by governments around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Related topics for discussion may include criminal justice, privacy, and the proportionality of the measures taken during the pandemic in relation to freedom of expression, as well as the role and function of domestic and international accountability mechanisms, including the judiciary, human rights commissions, ombudspersons, special rapporteurs and treaty bodies. The webinar will be held in English and will be followed by a similar one in French on Monday 29 June. Both webinars will be presented by high-profile speakers (including judges from regional human rights courts, UN experts, academics, practitioners and civil society representatives) and are part of a series of webinars for judicial operators on legal challenges related to freedom of expression in relation with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the support of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the ECOWAS Court of Justice and Open Society Foundations.

Link here

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As states emerge from the Covid-19 crisis, this panel examines the processes of response, reform and recovery, within legal and political systems from across the EU. From the perspectives of civil society and constitutional orders (Paul Blokker, RECONNECT); public health and international human rights law (Cassandra Emmons, Princeton); and SURE (European Unemployment Reinsurance Scheme) (Andrea Sangiovanni, King’s-EUI), this panel will provide an economic, political, social and legal analysis of how states are responding to the crisis. Joelle Grogan (RECONNECT), convenor of the 'COVID-19 and States of Emergency' Verfassungsblog and DRI Symposium, will provide an initial overview of EU Member States' emergency responses, highlighting the most concerning and most promising legal developments.

Participation is free, but we kindly ask you to register your attendance to the online panel via the link below

Link here

The webinar will address broad questions about the politicization of the pandemic and populist challenge to scientific expertise. Our guests will examine protests against government responses to Covid, demonstrations against systemic racism in the US and around the world, and how these events are linked to populist politics in general.

Speaker: Rogers Brubaker (Professor of Sociology UCLA): PARADOXES OF POPULISM DURING THE PANDEMIC

Link here

As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is increased discussion of democratic institutions relying more heavily on technology in elections. Specifically, some are calling for internet voting for holding elections during pandemic-associated lockdowns. Before countries and election management bodies move forward with internet voting, however, they need to properly understand the associated risks, opportunities and challenges of such a novel and relatively untested technology. To address this issue, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) will host a global online seminar on Tuesday, June 16, bringing together a range of experts to discuss the future of internet voting. The seminar will be organized into two separate panels and subsequent question and answer sessions, featuring the following guests. Each guest will speak on a specific topic:

RSVP by June 15 to receive the link.

Link not yet available

Date: 15 June 2020 (Monday)

Time: 11AM (SGT) (75 minutes session)

Speakers:

1. Dian Shah (National University of Singapore);

2. Andrew Harding (National University of Singapore);

3. Arun Thiruvengadam (Azim Premji University); and

4. Cora Chan (Hong Kong University).

Link here

In collaboration with the European Affairs Committe of the New York City Bar Association (NYCBA), we are glad to announce Ius in itinere's next webinar on "Rule of Law and Covid-19: the case of Hungary", which will be held on 12th June, 6 PM (UTC +2) / 12 PM (UTC -4)

Link here

This webinar will examine the COVIDSafe App launched by the Australian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will consider the design and function of the app and the legal restrictions on its use, as part of a broader discussion of its potential risks and benefits and public trust in government operated technology.

Link not yet available

Concept note and information here