Page - 552 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE552 COVID-19 Ordinances, Law Enforcement, and Civil Liberty Most African countries have historical legacies of dictatorship. Even in the best of times, civil liberties in Africa are fraught. Since the 1990s, most of these nations have transitioned to fledgling, fragile democracies.42 COVID-19 emergency ordinances have resulted in many citizens across the continent being subjected to overzealous law enforcement personnel undermining the rule of law.43 In some cases, citizens have been murdered.44 Draconian law enforcement and leg- islative power grabs of various guises have crept into the polity on the back of COVID-19.45 Details of rapidly rolled out emergency ordi- nances have been foggy, as they are not broadly disseminated at the time of enforcement. And access to legal services has been truncated.46 The result is that, in many cases, the most vulnerable are victimized several times over—a dynamic that needs to be fully documented and exposed in order to eliminate impunity, whereby civil liberties are violated in the name of public health in a pandemic.47 Lessons, Opportunities in the Gloom of COVID-19 COVID-19 has shaken the foundation of global public health, exposed both the fragility of industrialized countries’ pandemic prepared- ness and a moment of vacuum in global leadership, caused chiefly by the palpable abdication of the U.S. and its ongoing blame game with China. Among other considerations, those have undermined the institutional effectiveness of the WHO and related organizations. One 42. See Landry Signe, “The Tortuous Trajectories of Democracy and the Persistence of Authoritarianism in Africa” (2013) Stanford Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law Working Paper 147, online: SSRN <https:// ssrn.com/abstract=2237354>. 43. See “UN Raises Alarm About Police Brutality in COVID-19 Lockdowns”, Al Jazeera (28 April 2020), online: <https://bit.ly/3bp63Xs>. 44. Ibid. 45. See Dima Samaro & Emna Sayadi, “Tunisia’s Parliament on COVID-19; an Initiative to Fight Disinformation or an Opportunity to Violate Fundamental Rights?”, Access Now (1 April 2020), online: <https://bit.ly/2SDXfq7>; Adamu Abuh et al, “Pressure Mounts on Reps to Suspend Infectious Disease Bill”, The Guardian  Nigeria  News (5 May 2020), online: <https://bit.ly/2SGapTO>. 46. See “Lockdown: Lawyers Sue FG, Demand Categorization of Legal Practice as Essential Service”, Vanguard  News  Nigeria  (5 May 2020), online: <https://bit. ly/2YAjVLY>. 47. See Oluchi Aniaka, “Law and Ethics of Ebola Outbreak in Nigeria” (2014), online (pdf): SSRN <https://bit.ly/2AdM15q>.