Transitional Justice after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Transitional Justice in Light of International Law and Its Application to the Post-Pandemic Situation
3. Scope and Application: A Roadmap for the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the COVID-19 Pandemic” (TRC-COVID-19)
3.1. Substantive Scope
3.2. Structural Scope
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the COVID-19 pandemic, TRC-COVID-19: Collegiate body that will lead the TJ process. Its features will be addressed by the future comprehensive TJ plan. However, it can be pointed out that it would be necessary to include national and international personalities, with gender parity and ethnic balance, ensuring the participation of members of indigenous and peasant communities, as well as the representation of the professional and social strata mainly affected by the pandemic. A report would be presented within a reasonable period of time that allows addressing the elements of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.
- Reparations program: In international law, reparation measures are not only economic, but also include a variety of remedies, such as satisfaction, restitution of rights, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition [39]. Satisfaction measures may include, for example, erecting a monument in favor of the victims. Therefore, it is first necessary to establish the potential victims in the context of the pandemic and to whom these reparations will have to be directed. This group should include those patients who died or who suffer sequelae secondary to the disease itself, as well as their relatives due to the economic or emotional consequences they may have suffered. It is also necessary to include in this group of victims those chronic diseases’ patients whose treatment has been postponed during the contingencies, as well as oncologic patients who have suffered a delay in receiving surgery or chemotherapy [40,41]. This group should also include health professionals who have seen their workload increase and their quality of life reduced during the pandemic, and who are suffering from ailments related to physical and mental health as a result of the situation. Even though governments tried to guarantee the availability of supportive systems for professionals and their families [42], health professionals showed significant levels of mental disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic [43], similar to those detected in previous epidemic situations [44]. This is indicative of the necessary measures not having been taken to mitigate stress in health workers despite former experiences.
- Given the nature and magnitude of the problem, and also the massive number of potential victims (fatal and non-fatal), reparation measures must address this reality [45], and should not be solely economic measures. It is not the intention that the State be embezzled to care for the victims. For this reason, a measure of satisfaction widely included in reparations programs is the request for public forgiveness by the authorities. Likewise, it is of cardinal importance that the reparation measures are followed by measures that guarantee non-repetition. For this, it would be interesting for the TRC-COVID-19 to perform a subsequent follow-up, ensuring that consensual measures have been carried out, using mechanisms that already exist in international law [46].
- Technical Committee of reform package to guarantee non-repetition: Technical and scientific collegiate body that will elaborate a comprehensive plan to adopt the necessary legislative measures. These measures with have a social, cultural, administrative, and legal impact, among others. The purpose of these measures is to ensure that the events that already happened do not occur again as consequence of deficiencies related to the lack of infrastructure, deficiency of human resources or limitations in the legal framework. To ensure the “non-repetition”, it will be also necessary to carry out a subsequent follow-up of compliance with the reforms and their temporary maintenance.
3.3. Teleological Scope or Purposes
- Recognition of the victims: not only as victims but also as subjects of law. The objective of the reparation measures is not only to repair the suffering caused by the aforementioned victims of the pandemic, but also to restore their ability to exercise their rights as citizens.
- Civic trust: with the use of the legal system of justice. The purpose is effectively to obtain justice, for which an expectation of shared normative commitment must be established. The application of the TJ will increase the trust of the victims in the public health systems and in the executive powers in an eventual future situation of pandemic.
- Reconciliation: describing a state in which social relations are characterized by trust based on the normative framework. Thus, society will increase its trust in institutions and future controversial decisions will be better accepted and followed.
- Democracy and rule of law as an expression of individual autonomy and as a means for citizens to understand justice through the law. In addition, for the TJ measures to be valid, they should be adopted through democratically elected representatives, reflecting the popular will. Without analyzing any particular government model, TJ could contribute to achieve the ideals of democracy and also its modern attributes which are free and fair elections, universal participation, civil liberties, and responsible government [48]. Moreover, it aims to foster the rule of law as restriction of the arbitrary exercise of power.
- Transparency: active engagement of civil society to the TJ processes, truth commission, information and communication strategies promoting an active participation of victim groups. Thus, in an eventual future pandemic situation, the population will be involved in decision-making taken processes.
- Solidarity: as the most disadvantaged of the social strata suffered greater damage during the pandemic, with a greater deterioration of their economy and their quality of life. For this reason, it is important that the actions taken during the exercise of TJ in this context take these consequences into account and that reparation measures are preferably aimed at those who suffered the worst consequences.
- Diverse representation: these processes must be led by groups made up of people who are not normally represented (racial, ethical, social minorities, LGTBIQ persons), who have suffered harm to their rights and freedoms during the pandemic.
4. A Way towards the “New Normal”
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Rodríguez Reveggino, B.; Becerra-Bolaños, Á. Transitional Justice after the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 12388. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph191912388
Rodríguez Reveggino B, Becerra-Bolaños Á. Transitional Justice after the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(19):12388. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph191912388
Chicago/Turabian StyleRodríguez Reveggino, Bruno, and Ángel Becerra-Bolaños. 2022. "Transitional Justice after the COVID-19 Pandemic" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 19: 12388. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph191912388