Original scientific paper
The Spread of Infectious Diseases as a Threat to Human Security and Criminal Mechanisms in Preventing the Spread of the COVID-19 Virus
Sunčana Roksandić
; Pravni fakultet, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Krešimir Mamić
; Ravnateljstvo polcije, Ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova RH, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic (SARS-Cov-2) remains a major global public health and human security problem. Almost all countries in the world have redirected enormous resources to combat the pandemic in an effort to preserve the economy at the same time. In order to prevent the spread of this contagious disease, measures have been introduced that restrict the human rights and freedoms that are indispensable in any democratic society in order to minimise the unfavourable outcomes of this disease. The Republic of Croatia is no exception in this regard. In this article, we address what we consider most important when it comes to preventing the COVID-19 pandemic. Particular emphasis is given to the need to achieve an understanding that the COVID-19 pandemic is a threat to human security and the realisation of the right to health and healthcare. We also place all of this in the context of previous pandemics that have had a profound impact on further geopolitical turmoil, drawing attention to why the COIVD-19 pandemic must be understood in the context of the notion of human security. At the same time, taking into account the purpose of criminal law as an ultima ratio instrument, we also address those criminal offences that protect individuals as a legal good from the spread of infectious diseases in Croatia. It must be noted that the criminal law provisions cannot be understood without clearly understanding the provision related to the measures of preventing infectious diseases.
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemics; pandemics through history; human security; the right to health; Act on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases; criminal law responses to pandemics in Croatia – Article 180 of the Croatian Criminal Code
Hrčak ID:
253331
URI
Publication date:
14.12.2020.
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