Mobility Phase: Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law | European Court of Human Rights
The Rule of Law, Human Rights, and European Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: an Inquiry into Emergency Powers in Times of Global Health Emergencies
Photo: Joanna Scheffel
Dr. Emre Turkut is a post-doctoral researcher at Hertie School’s Centre for Fundamental Rights. He received his PhD in international law from Ghent University and remains an affiliated researcher at the Ghent Rolin-Jaequemyns International Law Institute (GRILI). Emre’s research covers a variety of fields within the domain(s) of public international law, international human rights law and comparative constitutional law including states of emergency, derogations, emergency powers, counter-terrorism, self-determination movements, international law in domestic courts, transnational judicial dialogue and judicial politics in authoritarian regimes. His research outputs have appeared in top-tier journals and received several scholarly awards and prizes including an honorable mention for the American Society of Comparative Law’s prestigious Colin B. Picker Prize in Comparative Law in 2020. Emre previously held a Swedish Institute visiting fellowship at Uppsala University (2018-19) and a DAAD fellowship at Hertie School (2019-20). Along with his academic work, Emre is frequently contacted by NGOs and global media platforms to give expert opinions on issues of human rights, international law and Turkish law. He also serves as a legal consultant and expert witness on Turkish law to several private entities.
The Rule of Law, Human Rights, and European Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic: an Inquiry into Emergency Powers in Times of Global Health Emergencies
Public health has increasingly become a matter of international concern. This is particularly true in situations of trans-boundary health emergencies as demonstrated by the SARS and Ebola epidemics, and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on three European case studies, namely Germany, Turkey and the UK, this project engages in an in-depth analysis on the use of exceptional national security and emergency powers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic from both a constitutional and human rights perspective. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach based on the combination of a doctrinal legal analysis of the COVID-19 emergency measures in selected cases; a critical inquiry into the feasibility of global institutions and norms pertaining to public health, and a fieldwork based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders and experts at both international and national levels, the project aims to offer novel insights into (1) whether there is a so-called European response to global health emergencies; (2) whether the existing (international) legal framework is sufficiently determinate and provides for legal certainty; (3) whether resorted emergency powers are adapted to today’s challenges, and if not; (4) what sorts of challenges they pose to the overarching objectives of modern constitutionalism and the rule of law.
