Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on migrants and refugees the world over. Their pre-existing vulnerabilities were immediately exacerbated as national health systems were often overwhelmed and many disease control measures were either inaccessible to them or had disproportionate socio-economic effe...

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Main Authors: Florian F. Hoffmann, Isadora d'Avila Lima Nery Gonçalves
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2020-01-01
Series:AJIL Unbound
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772320000653/type/journal_article
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author Florian F. Hoffmann
Isadora d'Avila Lima Nery Gonçalves
author_facet Florian F. Hoffmann
Isadora d'Avila Lima Nery Gonçalves
author_sort Florian F. Hoffmann
collection DOAJ
description COVID-19 has had a profound impact on migrants and refugees the world over. Their pre-existing vulnerabilities were immediately exacerbated as national health systems were often overwhelmed and many disease control measures were either inaccessible to them or had disproportionate socio-economic effects. But migrants and refugees have also been framed as prima facie causes for the transboundary spread of the virus, and public health exception and derogation clauses in both national and international refugee and human rights instruments have been used to block their entry, suspend asylum processing, or trigger deportations. Taking the example of Brazil as a point of departure, the present contribution argues that (for at least some states) the appearance of the virus seems to have served as a legal carte blanche for fundamentally reconfiguring or closing down border regimes. More specifically, we argue that the strategic mainstreaming of global health regulations into border regimes points to the emergence of a “pandemic law” that encroaches upon already fragile transnational legal regime complexes, with the potential to upend or hollow out existing frameworks for migrant and refugee protection.
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spelling doaj.art-0a07ada5eb4f4c8b8b582dca809220d32023-03-09T12:27:08ZengCambridge University PressAJIL Unbound2398-77232020-01-0111432733110.1017/aju.2020.65Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from BrazilFlorian F. Hoffmann0Isadora d'Avila Lima Nery Gonçalves1Professor of Law, Department of Law, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil.Doctoral Researcher, Department of Law, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil.COVID-19 has had a profound impact on migrants and refugees the world over. Their pre-existing vulnerabilities were immediately exacerbated as national health systems were often overwhelmed and many disease control measures were either inaccessible to them or had disproportionate socio-economic effects. But migrants and refugees have also been framed as prima facie causes for the transboundary spread of the virus, and public health exception and derogation clauses in both national and international refugee and human rights instruments have been used to block their entry, suspend asylum processing, or trigger deportations. Taking the example of Brazil as a point of departure, the present contribution argues that (for at least some states) the appearance of the virus seems to have served as a legal carte blanche for fundamentally reconfiguring or closing down border regimes. More specifically, we argue that the strategic mainstreaming of global health regulations into border regimes points to the emergence of a “pandemic law” that encroaches upon already fragile transnational legal regime complexes, with the potential to upend or hollow out existing frameworks for migrant and refugee protection.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772320000653/type/journal_article
spellingShingle Florian F. Hoffmann
Isadora d'Avila Lima Nery Gonçalves
Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
AJIL Unbound
title Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
title_full Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
title_fullStr Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
title_full_unstemmed Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
title_short Border Regimes and Pandemic Law in Time of COVID-19: A View from Brazil
title_sort border regimes and pandemic law in time of covid 19 a view from brazil
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398772320000653/type/journal_article
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