State of emergency trivia: 48 facts about the phrase you hear a lot lately

“State of emergency” is a term that is used when a government perform actions or impose policies that otherwise wouldn’t. The term is back because of the coronavirus outbreak.

So let’s find out some more trivia about this phrase that we hear a lot in the news these days.

1. A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake
2. A government can declare such a state during a natural disaster, medical pandemics/epidemics, civil unrest, or armed conflict
3. Such declarations alert citizens to change their normal behavior and orders government agencies to implement emergency plans
4. Justitium is its equivalent in Roman law
5. This is a concept in which the senate could put forward a final decree (senatus consultum ultimum) that was not subject to dispute
6. States of emergency can also be used as a rationale or pretext for suspending rights and freedoms guaranteed under a country’s constitution or basic law
7. The procedure for and legality of doing so vary by country
8. Under international law, rights and freedoms may be suspended during a state of emergency
9. For example, a government can detain persons and hold them without trial
10. All rights that can be derogated from are listed in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights
11. Non-derogable rights cannot be suspended
12. Non-derogable rights are listed in Article 4 of the ICCPR
13. They include right to life, the rights to freedom from arbitrary deprivation of liberty, slavery, torture, and ill-treatment
14. Some countries have made it illegal to modify emergency law or the constitution during the emergency
15. Other countries have the freedom to change any legislation or rights based constitutional frameworks at any time that the legislative chooses to do so
16. Constitutions are contracts between the government and the private individuals of that country
17. The International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international law document signed and ratified by states
18. Therefore, the Covenant applies to only those persons acting in an official capacity, not private individuals
19. However, States Parties to the Covenant are expected to integrate it into national legislation
20. The state of emergency (within the ICCPR framework) must be publicly declared and the Secretary-General of the United Nations and all other States Parties to the Covenant must be notified immediately, to declare the reason for the emergency, the date on which the emergency is to start, the derogations that may take place, with the timeframe of the emergency and the date in which the emergency is expected to finish
21. Although this is common protocol stipulated by the ICCPR, its monitoring Committee of experts has no sanction power
22. Its recommendations are therefore not always strictly followed
23. Enforcement is therefore better regulated by the American and European Conventions and Courts on human rights
24. Though fairly uncommon in democracies, dictatorial regimes often declare a state of emergency that is prolonged indefinitely for the life of the regime
25. Or for extended periods of time so that derogations can be used to override human rights of their citizens usually protected by the International Covenant on Civil and political rights
26. In some situations, martial law is also declared, allowing the military greater authority to act
27. In other situations, emergency is not declared and de facto measures taken or decree-law adopted by the government
28. Ms. Nicole Questiaux (France) and Mr. Leandro Despouy (Argentina), two consecutive United Nations Special Rapporteurs, have recommended to the international community to adopt the following “principles” to be observed during a state or de facto situation of emergency
29. Article 4 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), permits states to derogate from certain rights guaranteed by the ICCPR in “time of public emergency”
30. Any measures derogating from obligations under the Covenant, however, must be to only the extent required by the exigencies of the situation, and must be announced by the State Party to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
31. The European Convention on Human Rights and American Convention on Human Rights have similar derogatory provisions
32. No derogation is permitted to the International Labour Conventions
33. Some political theorists, such as Carl Schmitt, have argued that the power to decide the initiation of the state of emergency defines sovereignty itself
34. In State of Exception (2005), Giorgio Agamben criticized this idea, arguing that the mechanism of the state of emergency deprives certain people of their civil and political rights, producing his interpretation of homo sacer
35. In many democratic states there are a selection of legal definitions for specific states of emergency
36. When the constitution of the State is partially in abeyance depending on the nature of the perceived threat to the general public
37. Martial law when civil rights are severely restricted by the imposition of military force within a Sovereign state
38. For example during a period of extreme threat of invasion or actual hostilities by foreign forces
39. State of siege when the civil rights of specified persons or groups such as political activists are likely to be curtailed
40. For example to prevent an insurrection or organised acts of treason by suspected agents provocateurs
41. Civil emergency dealing with disaster areas and requiring the deployment of extraordinary resources to contain dangerous situations such as natural disasters or extensive malicious property damage such as may occur during rioting or by arson
42. As well as regular emergency services sometimes military forces may be assigned to deliver aid under especially dangerous conditions or to prevent looting
43. Sometimes, the state of emergency can be abused by being invoked
44. An example would be to allow a state to suppress internal opposition without having to respect human rights
45. An example was the August 1991 attempted coup in the Soviet Union (USSR) where the coup leaders invoked a state of emergency
46. The failure of the coup led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
47. Derogations by states having ratified or acceded to binding international agreements
48. Such as the ICCPR, the American and European Conventions on Human Rights and the International Labour Conventions are monitored by independent expert committees, regional Courts and other State Parties