President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele speaks at an international conference about the Covid 19 caused challenges in the area of human rights
On Thursday, 17 September, President of the Constitutional Court Ineta Ziemele participated in an online conference organised by Mykolas Romeris University “70 Years of the European Convention on Human Rights: Challenges and Prospects”. In her presentation, she spoke about the challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemics to European countries and shared the experience of how the Latvian constitutional bodies ensured continuity of their activities during the state of emergency.
Ineta Ziemele emphasised the complexity of the situation, where the states, in the situation of pandemics, had to ensure public health by restricting the individual freedom of inhabitants. She underscored that the situation of pandemics was a serious test for the European common values. She told about the remote joint meeting of the constitutional bodies that was organised in Latvia to discuss the basic principles of their operation during the state of emergency that had been declared in the country. The State had to ensure peace and stability, at the same time complying with the international commitments in the area of human rights that Latvia had assumed.
Ineta Ziemele foregrounded the Constitutional Court’s ability to continue performing the Court’s functions remotely, organising its work on online platforms. Adjustment to the new methods ensured the continuity of the Court’s work. Latvia’s society had to feel sure that the Constitutional Court would continue exercising the judicial power, notwithstanding the state of emergency. Therefore the Court decided to hold the court hearings with the participation of the parties remotely and stream the hearings on the Court’s Youtube channel.
In her presentation, Ineta Ziemele stated that, during the state of emergency, united standards in the approach to the protection of human rights were not always observed in Europe. Therefore, the European judicial powers must draw conclusions, reinforce their ability to work together, to adapt to the situation, ensuring effective protection of human right also in such circumstances.
Video recording of the conference in English is available here (Ineta Ziemele’s presentation from 3:08:00):