Sustainable development constitutes a catch phrase for integrated and inclusive development more so in Africa that is battling with development challenges. Despite its legitimization at the highest institutional level, a principal impediment encountered in the concretization of sustainable development principles (environmental, social and economic) in Africa remains the enforcement conundrum. The situation is compounded by indifference of the state and non-state actors. Cases of environmental damage, social malpractices and economic marginalization in the execution of trade and investment policies are largely treated with levity, with prioritization accorded to financial accruals over disciplining delinquent behaviour. Consequently, the emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) with provisions on sustainable development renews hope for the concretization of the sustainable development principles in Africa. A crystallization of effective enforcement of sustainable development principles is deeply intertwined with an existence of an effective peer-review mechanism with a network of reporting linkages. Arguably, effective peer review system is fundamental to assessment of state of play, investigation of violations, collation of reports, and institutional strengthening to change the dynamics in favour of improved performance.
{"title":"Sustainable Development Under AfCFTA: Dimensions, Limitations and Prospects","authors":"Collins Chikodili Ajibo, Thoko Kaime","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2023-0127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2023-0127","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainable development constitutes a catch phrase for integrated and inclusive development more so in Africa that is battling with development challenges. Despite its legitimization at the highest institutional level, a principal impediment encountered in the concretization of sustainable development principles (environmental, social and economic) in Africa remains the enforcement conundrum. The situation is compounded by indifference of the state and non-state actors. Cases of environmental damage, social malpractices and economic marginalization in the execution of trade and investment policies are largely treated with levity, with prioritization accorded to financial accruals over disciplining delinquent behaviour. Consequently, the emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) with provisions on sustainable development renews hope for the concretization of the sustainable development principles in Africa. A crystallization of effective enforcement of sustainable development principles is deeply intertwined with an existence of an effective peer-review mechanism with a network of reporting linkages. Arguably, effective peer review system is fundamental to assessment of state of play, investigation of violations, collation of reports, and institutional strengthening to change the dynamics in favour of improved performance.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140842005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The success of Singapore with swift digital contact-tracing strategies inspired Vietnam to adopt similar measures, which both have raised concerns about balancing public health goals with personal data privacy. These approaches suggest a trend toward increased surveillance, citizen involvement in pandemic response, and enhanced government digitalization in everyday life postpandemic. This article examines the approaches of Singapore and Vietnam to data governance in the public sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the theories of techno-solutionism and the efficiency breach to assess how each country perceived and handled privacy rights during the crisis. The findings show that despite differing data governance approaches, both nations face similar challenges in balancing public interests and personal rights. This balance is particularly crucial in their pursuit of Pareto optimality in data protection laws against techno-solutionism, a key consideration in the development of smart cities or nations in the postpandemic era.
{"title":"From Crisis to Control: Amidst and Postpandemic Data Protection Concerns in Singapore and Vietnam through the Lens of Techno-Solutionism and Efficient Violation of Privacy Rights","authors":"Vy Ngo Nguyen Thao","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0039","url":null,"abstract":"The success of Singapore with swift digital contact-tracing strategies inspired Vietnam to adopt similar measures, which both have raised concerns about balancing public health goals with personal data privacy. These approaches suggest a trend toward increased surveillance, citizen involvement in pandemic response, and enhanced government digitalization in everyday life postpandemic. This article examines the approaches of Singapore and Vietnam to data governance in the public sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the theories of techno-solutionism and the efficiency breach to assess how each country perceived and handled privacy rights during the crisis. The findings show that despite differing data governance approaches, both nations face similar challenges in balancing public interests and personal rights. This balance is particularly crucial in their pursuit of Pareto optimality in data protection laws against techno-solutionism, a key consideration in the development of smart cities or nations in the postpandemic era.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140301886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the economic disparities created and augmented by the Pandemic and implores the state to adopt redistribution schemes based on the philosophy of distributive justice. The pandemic created and augmented gaping class inequalities, by pushing some into unemployment and poverty, while catalysing others’ prosperity. This may or may not have involved a fault element on the part of those that profited from the pandemic, which is to say, while some may have actively exploited the situation to increase their profits at the cost of general interests, others may have simply gained profits while retaining ethical practices in their conduct of business. This Paper argues that, irrespective of the fault element, States must implement a special financial scheme that necessitates companies that gained enormous profits from the pandemic to contribute towards assisting those who were financially crushed by the pandemic. The paper will build this on the philosophy of distributive justice, examining the ‘difference principle’ as well as ‘luck and responsibility egalitarianism’. Simply put, this means that States must enforce a system that neutralizes the ‘luck’ element that the pandemic induced in the society, through a financial scheme best suited for its situation. This may be achieved through levying a special tax for a period of time on particular business entities and/or by requiring companies to include a special corporate social responsibility project in line with the quantum of additional profits owing to the pandemic. Arguably, corporate houses that exploited the pandemic must not be placed at par with those that merely happened to profit from it (say, for instance, a pharmaceutical company that may have manipulated the drug market to increase prices and limit supply of an important drug, as opposed to a food/essentials delivery chain that naturally saw an increase in the number of consumers ordering deliveries online). But the obligation to carve out a part of their profits for social redistribution is not founded on whether they are at fault or not. Any fault may, of course, be used as a basis for levying a higher penalty or other legal measure, apart and distinct from the obligation that this paper builds on. The scheme that is proposed by the Paper is not to penalize but is based on the philosophy of distributive justice and thus does not require that the company was ever in violation of laws, but merely that the pandemic that devastated most people happened to be a profitable enterprise for others in contrast. It is in the State’s interests to negate the widened gap of economic disparities thus created, and this justifies that the Government would require such corporate houses to carve out a fraction of their fortunes for those who suffered severely. The Paper builds primarily on the philosophical foundations of distributive justice, urging its practical implementation in post-pandemic the economy. States must adopt creative measure
{"title":"Implementing Post-Pandemic Economic Parity: A Potential Restoration Through Distributive Justice","authors":"Aswathy Madhukumar","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0037","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the economic disparities created and augmented by the Pandemic and implores the state to adopt redistribution schemes based on the philosophy of distributive justice. The pandemic created and augmented gaping class inequalities, by pushing some into unemployment and poverty, while catalysing others’ prosperity. This may or may not have involved a fault element on the part of those that profited from the pandemic, which is to say, while some may have actively exploited the situation to increase their profits at the cost of general interests, others may have simply gained profits while retaining ethical practices in their conduct of business. This Paper argues that, irrespective of the fault element, States must implement a special financial scheme that necessitates companies that gained enormous profits from the pandemic to contribute towards assisting those who were financially crushed by the pandemic. The paper will build this on the philosophy of distributive justice, examining the ‘difference principle’ as well as ‘luck and responsibility egalitarianism’. Simply put, this means that States must enforce a system that neutralizes the ‘luck’ element that the pandemic induced in the society, through a financial scheme best suited for its situation. This may be achieved through levying a special tax for a period of time on particular business entities and/or by requiring companies to include a special corporate social responsibility project in line with the quantum of additional profits owing to the pandemic. Arguably, corporate houses that exploited the pandemic must not be placed at par with those that merely happened to profit from it (say, for instance, a pharmaceutical company that may have manipulated the drug market to increase prices and limit supply of an important drug, as opposed to a food/essentials delivery chain that naturally saw an increase in the number of consumers ordering deliveries online). But the obligation to carve out a part of their profits for social redistribution is not founded on whether they are at fault or not. Any fault may, of course, be used as a basis for levying a higher penalty or other legal measure, apart and distinct from the obligation that this paper builds on. The scheme that is proposed by the Paper is not to penalize but is based on the philosophy of distributive justice and thus does not require that the company was ever in violation of laws, but merely that the pandemic that devastated most people happened to be a profitable enterprise for others in contrast. It is in the State’s interests to negate the widened gap of economic disparities thus created, and this justifies that the Government would require such corporate houses to carve out a fraction of their fortunes for those who suffered severely. The Paper builds primarily on the philosophical foundations of distributive justice, urging its practical implementation in post-pandemic the economy. States must adopt creative measure","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140198181","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic can and should be understood as a form of creative destruction (Schumpeter’s gale), at a hyper level owing to its biological/medical dimension. Therefore, the critical response to such a hyper force is to rethink how institutions administer Public Policy in South Africa (Path Dependency), most importantly economic development planning institutions and Covid-19 responses, in the form of ‘The Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan’. It’s the contention of this paper that the reason why Covid-19 continues to impact the South African government’s economic planning ethos is anchored in its developmental orientation, particularly how constitutional legalism has impaired economic development planning. This could impart be due to the unaddressed influences of the initial waves of Law and Development post-1994. The South African experience with the initial waves of Law and Development were muted owing to the problematic nature of the 1994 transition which sought peace at all costs without necessary addressing substantive economic development reform considerations. Therefore, using the policy experiences of Covid-19 and Lee’s, General Theory of Law and Development, particularly the aspects of Development and State Capacity and Political Will, a revision of the South African Constitution will be called on, principally chapter’s 2 and 6 (Bill of Rights) and (Province).
{"title":"Ending 1990s Law and Development Ideas, Paradox of Path Dependence In Economic Planning Institutions Under Covid-19: SA’s Response","authors":"T. K. Pooe","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0007","url":null,"abstract":"This paper argues that the COVID-19 pandemic can and should be understood as a form of creative destruction (Schumpeter’s gale), at a hyper level owing to its biological/medical dimension. Therefore, the critical response to such a hyper force is to rethink how institutions administer Public Policy in South Africa (Path Dependency), most importantly economic development planning institutions and Covid-19 responses, in the form of ‘The Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan’. It’s the contention of this paper that the reason why Covid-19 continues to impact the South African government’s economic planning ethos is anchored in its developmental orientation, particularly how constitutional legalism has impaired economic development planning. This could impart be due to the unaddressed influences of the initial waves of Law and Development post-1994. The South African experience with the initial waves of Law and Development were muted owing to the problematic nature of the 1994 transition which sought peace at all costs without necessary addressing substantive economic development reform considerations. Therefore, using the policy experiences of Covid-19 and Lee’s, General Theory of Law and Development, particularly the aspects of Development and State Capacity and Political Will, a revision of the South African Constitution will be called on, principally chapter’s 2 and 6 (Bill of Rights) and (Province).","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"66 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140056932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The COVID-19 pandemic had mixed effects on reproductive autonomy. While some governments excluded reproductive health care from the category of “essential” services that could be provided during shutdown orders, the pandemic also gave researchers an opportunity to study the efficacy and safety of telemedicine abortion and self-managed abortion. Feminist organizations around the world have also organized to provide cross-border services and far more women now know how to obtain abortion medications. This can be empowering, not only during a public emergency but also when legal rights are suddenly taken away. Unfortunately, for those women who require surgical abortion care, overly strict laws can still lead to tragic outcomes. This is why it is important that human rights treaty bodies and courts are gradually recognizing a right to reproductive autonomy under regional and international human rights law. Hopefully, even conservative governments can be persuaded to provide compassionate exceptions in their laws regulating abortion. A more compassionate approach to the subject of abortion would promote both maternal health and gender equality, helping governments to achieve the ambitious targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
{"title":"The Impact of the Pandemic on Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equality: Perspectives from the Sustainable Development Agenda","authors":"Carole J. Petersen","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0011","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic had mixed effects on reproductive autonomy. While some governments excluded reproductive health care from the category of “essential” services that could be provided during shutdown orders, the pandemic also gave researchers an opportunity to study the efficacy and safety of telemedicine abortion and self-managed abortion. Feminist organizations around the world have also organized to provide cross-border services and far more women now know how to obtain abortion medications. This can be empowering, not only during a public emergency but also when legal rights are suddenly taken away. Unfortunately, for those women who require surgical abortion care, overly strict laws can still lead to tragic outcomes. This is why it is important that human rights treaty bodies and courts are gradually recognizing a right to reproductive autonomy under regional and international human rights law. Hopefully, even conservative governments can be persuaded to provide compassionate exceptions in their laws regulating abortion. A more compassionate approach to the subject of abortion would promote both maternal health and gender equality, helping governments to achieve the ambitious targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140057643","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Technological innovations at the time of the pandemic and post pandemic is the focus of this paper which examines the relationship between intellectual property (IP), artificial intelligence (AI) and the healthcare sector. Research in this area includes the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industries in the healthcare sector and the impact of intellectual property protection on emerging technologies. Taking an interdisciplinary and diverse perspective, this paper enriches the evolving scope of ethical discourse literature by focusing on intellectual property assets that use AI and regulation that shape the healthcare sector. Considering the gap between law and development theory and practice, this paper bridges academic knowledge in unpacking ethical and governance issues in the intellectual property industry, healthcare law and emerging technologies. Unpacking these issues is important in the law and development context as ethical issues that arise from emerging technologies using AI systems and the responses from policymakers in governing their developments create long-term implications to individuals and populations. Governance responses often vary according to the local contexts, and are dependent on the unique socio-cultural structures, institutional organisations and legal frameworks.
{"title":"Intellectual Property and Health Technological Innovations at the time of the Pandemic","authors":"Nadia Naim, Hui Yun Chan","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Technological innovations at the time of the pandemic and post pandemic is the focus of this paper which examines the relationship between intellectual property (IP), artificial intelligence (AI) and the healthcare sector. Research in this area includes the rapidly growing artificial intelligence industries in the healthcare sector and the impact of intellectual property protection on emerging technologies. Taking an interdisciplinary and diverse perspective, this paper enriches the evolving scope of ethical discourse literature by focusing on intellectual property assets that use AI and regulation that shape the healthcare sector. Considering the gap between law and development theory and practice, this paper bridges academic knowledge in unpacking ethical and governance issues in the intellectual property industry, healthcare law and emerging technologies. Unpacking these issues is important in the law and development context as ethical issues that arise from emerging technologies using AI systems and the responses from policymakers in governing their developments create long-term implications to individuals and populations. Governance responses often vary according to the local contexts, and are dependent on the unique socio-cultural structures, institutional organisations and legal frameworks.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140056567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Palm oil is a major Indonesian export product, but governmental supervision of plantation corporationsʼ activities on the ground frequently fails, which leads to environmental damage as well as conflict between companies and communities. By employing a socio-legal approach, this study found that the legal framework of the development of oil palm plantations is imprecise, unclear and incomplete and, as a consequence, causes the governmentʼs weakness in supervising oil palm plantation operations. We discovered three main causes of this incompleteness of law in supervising oil palm plantations: the delay in establishing the implementing regulations, the absence of sanctions in case of non-compliance, and the use of imprecise words, and complex terms and language. In addressing such incompleteness, this study suggests drafting more detailed rules to minimize delegation to lower regulations, using more precise terms and concepts, and considering sanctions for officials who do not carry out their obligations. Furthermore, discretion can be an alternative to overcome the existing legal incompleteness in supervising oil palm plantation operations.
{"title":"Government Supervision of Oil Palm Plantations in Indonesia: Legal Issues and Proposed Remedies","authors":"Mohamad Nasir, Laurens Bakker, Toon van Meijl","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0014","url":null,"abstract":"Palm oil is a major Indonesian export product, but governmental supervision of plantation corporationsʼ activities on the ground frequently fails, which leads to environmental damage as well as conflict between companies and communities. By employing a socio-legal approach, this study found that the legal framework of the development of oil palm plantations is imprecise, unclear and incomplete and, as a consequence, causes the governmentʼs weakness in supervising oil palm plantation operations. We discovered three main causes of this incompleteness of law in supervising oil palm plantations: the delay in establishing the implementing regulations, the absence of sanctions in case of non-compliance, and the use of imprecise words, and complex terms and language. In addressing such incompleteness, this study suggests drafting more detailed rules to minimize delegation to lower regulations, using more precise terms and concepts, and considering sanctions for officials who do not carry out their obligations. Furthermore, discretion can be an alternative to overcome the existing legal incompleteness in supervising oil palm plantation operations.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140017418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Law and Development Institute’s 2003 Law and Development Conference on “Law and Development Post the Pandemic” inadvertently exposes the limits of ‘rule of law’ as a conceptual device for linking law and development. As will be explored, the developmental implications of that crisis highlighted geographic aspects of law and development that more conventional foci on economic development obscure. This is because these more conventional foci overlook spatial and geographical aspects of both rule of law and ‘development’ that are much more salient when focusing on the developmental import of the pandemic. This article will explore what those aspects are.
{"title":"The COVID Pandemic and the Regulatory Geography of Rule of Law: Putting ‘Rule of Law’ in Its Place","authors":"Michael W. Dowdle","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0013","url":null,"abstract":"The Law and Development Institute’s 2003 Law and Development Conference on “Law and Development Post the Pandemic” inadvertently exposes the limits of ‘rule of law’ as a conceptual device for linking law and development. As will be explored, the developmental implications of that crisis highlighted geographic aspects of law and development that more conventional foci on economic development obscure. This is because these more conventional foci overlook spatial and geographical aspects of both rule of law and ‘development’ that are much more salient when focusing on the developmental import of the pandemic. This article will explore what those aspects are.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139967755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article discusses the constituent elements of law and development, discusses its history, introduces relevant theories, and explores how law and development approaches may contribute to development efforts throughout the world. In the course of addressing these issues, we emphasize those aspects of the subject that bring into focus the traditional concerns of comparative law. We also introduce a General Theory of Law and Development that seeks to capture the different aspects of a subject that has, in general, lacked theoretical articulation. This Theory attempts to define the conceptual parameters of “law” and “development” and sets forth the mechanisms by which law affects development. We also examine the discipline’s relationship with comparative law and explore the path forward.
{"title":"Law and Development: A Comparative Law Aspect","authors":"Yong-Shik Lee, Andrew Harding","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0003","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses the constituent elements of law and development, discusses its history, introduces relevant theories, and explores how law and development approaches may contribute to development efforts throughout the world. In the course of addressing these issues, we emphasize those aspects of the subject that bring into focus the traditional concerns of comparative law. We also introduce a General Theory of Law and Development that seeks to capture the different aspects of a subject that has, in general, lacked theoretical articulation. This Theory attempts to define the conceptual parameters of “law” and “development” and sets forth the mechanisms by which law affects development. We also examine the discipline’s relationship with comparative law and explore the path forward.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139952614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
During the COVID-19 pandemic, global cooperation arrived at an impasse, illustrated by the resistance of industrialized States to allow vaccines-related knowledge transfer to their economically less advantaged partners. One pertinent example is the EU, withholding its waiver of the TRIPS Agreement for vaccines and related medicines and thereby impeding knowledge transfer to States in need – an act that has also been referred to as ‘vaccine apartheid’. In the meantime, a new legal instrument intending to address in broader terms the faltering international cooperation emerged on the horizon: the Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development (DICRTD). Concerning health, the DICRTD’s preamble already recalls Arts. 1 (3), 55, and 56 UN Charter to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the UN to promote solutions of, inter alia, health problems. Reflecting on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the preamble also points out health emergencies and health crises as serious obstacles to the realization of the right to development. This contribution seeks to critically assess the potential of the future DICRTD to address global health crises through cooperation. Against this backdrop, it analyses the current legal status of the duty to cooperate, the potential transformative impact of the DICRTD on this legal status, and the effectiveness of the DICRTD’s implementation mechanism.
{"title":"The Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development and Its Implications for Cooperation in Global Health Crises","authors":"Sara Katharina Wissmann","doi":"10.1515/ldr-2024-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2024-0004","url":null,"abstract":"During the COVID-19 pandemic, global cooperation arrived at an impasse, illustrated by the resistance of industrialized States to allow vaccines-related knowledge transfer to their economically less advantaged partners. One pertinent example is the EU, withholding its waiver of the TRIPS Agreement for vaccines and related medicines and thereby impeding knowledge transfer to States in need – an act that has also been referred to as ‘vaccine apartheid’. In the meantime, a new legal instrument intending to address in broader terms the faltering international cooperation emerged on the horizon: the Draft International Covenant on the Right to Development (DICRTD). Concerning health, the DICRTD’s preamble already recalls Arts. 1 (3), 55, and 56 UN Charter to take joint and separate action in cooperation with the UN to promote solutions of, inter alia, health problems. Reflecting on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, the preamble also points out health emergencies and health crises as serious obstacles to the realization of the right to development. This contribution seeks to critically assess the potential of the future DICRTD to address global health crises through cooperation. Against this backdrop, it analyses the current legal status of the duty to cooperate, the potential transformative impact of the DICRTD on this legal status, and the effectiveness of the DICRTD’s implementation mechanism.","PeriodicalId":43146,"journal":{"name":"Law and Development Review","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2024-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139772742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}