The Economist - USA (2022-06-11)

62 International TheEconomistJune11th 2022

flout the law if it gets in their way. The third

reason  is  the  covid­19  pandemic.  Even

well­intentioned  governments  have  im­

posed emergency measures that have cur­

tailed  civil  liberties  and  legal  protections,

and  deprived  people  of basic  rights,  such

as to gather in public or even in private, or

to  leave  their  homeland,  or  to  return  to  it

from some places; it has also led to a surge

in the spread of dangerous disinformation,

which has sucked trust out of societies, as

has a perceived decline in equal treatment

under the law. It has, however, also sparked

some innovation that offers hope.

Within weeks of the World Health Orga­

nisation’s  declaring  the  covid­19  outbreak

to be a pandemic in March 2020, no fewer

than  84  countries  had  declared  states  of

emergency,  and  by  September  146  had  in­

troduced measures that affected the rights

of their citizens, according to the European

Centre  for  Not­for­profit  Law,  an  ngo

based in The Hague. Courts were forced to

stop  functioning,  or  to  shift  online,  with

many countries passing emergency laws to

change  procedures.  Pipelines  of  unre­

solved cases became even more clogged. In

India  the  number  of  outstanding  cases

rose  from  an  already  staggering  29m  in

2018 to 48m in May this year. 

Although  in  most  countries  states  of

emergency  have  been  lifted,  much  of  the

world  still  faces  some  restrictions.  Au­

thoritarians  are  particularly  reluctant  to

lift  emergency  rule—or  keen  to  replace  it

with  an  alternative  “emergency”.  In  Hun­

gary,  for  example,  with  a  covid  state  of

emergency due to expire on June 1st Viktor

Orbán, the prime minister, on May 24th de­

clared another one in response to the war

in Ukraine. In Hong Kong the annual gath­

ering  to  commemorate  the  June  4th  mas­

sacre  in  Beijing  in  1989  was  banned  this

year for the third year running. Social­dis­

tancing rules would again make it impos­

sible.  But  in  2020  a  national­security  law

was adopted that makes it illegal anyway.

The pandemic has damaged the rule of

law in a less direct way, too, by eroding the

fundamental  right  to  equal  treatment.  In

Singapore,  for  example,  migrant  workers

complained that rules locking them down

stayed in place far longer than those cover­

ing  other  people.  Elsewhere,  in  countries

from America to Finland, irksome regula­

tions  and  precautions  imposed  on  every­

one were flouted by those who had a hand

in devising them. 

A prime example is Britain, where dur­

ing lockdown 10 Downing Street, the home

and office of the prime minister, was used

for convivial booze­ups. Many voters have

been  outraged  that  rules  preventing  them

from  bidding  farewell  to  dying  relations

were seen as optional for those at the heart

of  government.  This  has  damaged  the

standing  of  the  prime  minister,  who  was

greeted by boos when he turned up on June

3rdatStPaul’sCathedralforaserviceto

markthequeen’splatinumjubilee.

Theharm,however,spreadsfarbeyond

theprimeminister,totheadvisersandcol­

leagueswhohavebackedhimashehas

mumbled half­apologies, to Parliament,

whichhasseemedunabletoholdthemto

account,andtothepolice,whoseinvesti­

gationappearedtardy,partialandincon­

sistent. Thescandalhasunderminedtrust

inthepoliticalsystemandthelaw.

Another damaging featureoftheco­

vid­19 pandemic was aconcurrent pan­

demic ofdisinformation. “There isper­

hapsnogreaterthreattotheruleoflawto­

day,”ElizabethAndersen,thewjp’sdirec­

tor,tolditsannualforuminTheHagueon

May31st.Justicerequiresnotjustaccessto

informationaboutthelaw but a shared

perceptionofthetruth.Thisyear’swinner

ofthewjp’s“RuleofLaw”awardisRede

Wayuri,a networkof 55 indigenouscom­

municatorsworkingintheBrazilianAma­

zontocounterdisinformation.

TheorganisationworksinthevastRio

NegroregionnearColombiaandVenezue­

la,hometo 750 communitiesfrom 23 in­

digenouspeoples.Residentshavelittleac­

cesstoreliable information,andwereal­

readyvulnerabletoexpropriationbymin­

ing companies and others telling them

theyhadnorighttotheirland.Duringthe

pandemic,RedeWayurifoundfakenews

aboutthevirusspreadinglikea forestfire.

Typically,localswouldvisittownand

return with the WhatsApp or Telegram

appsontheirphonesfilledwithnonsense.

Anespeciallyvirulentmemeheldthatco­

vid­19vaccinescontainedChinesemicro­

chips,to beusedtocontroltheinoculated.

Juliana Radler,a journalistwho advises

RedeWayuri,saysitsexposureofthelies

aboutvaccineshelpedbuildupscepticism

aboutotherfakenews,whichwillprolifer­

ate as campaigningfor the presidential

electioninOctobergatherssteam.

Inthatinstance,andinsomeothers,

thepandemicmayactuallyhavehelped.

Rose,forexample,theabusedFilipina,did

eventually find support—through Face­

book.ideals, a localgroupoflawyerswho

workwiththepoor,hadtofindnewways

ofreachingclientsinlockdown.Theyset

upa Facebookpage,TisyaHustisya,toan­

swer questions aboutever­changing so­

cial­distancingrules.Butitsoonbecamea

wayto servemorepeoplethantheyhadev­

erhelpedfacetoface.TheygaveRoseguid­

anceonhowtomakea policereport, and

thenonhowtofilea caseagainstherhus­

bandwiththehelpofa publicprosecutor.

Entrepreneursarealsoseeingpotential

in “people­centred justice”. hiil (The

HagueInstituteforInnovationofLaw),a

Dutchngo, hasteamedupwithfount, an

investment­advisory firm,to launchthe

InnovatingJusticeFund,tosupportyoung

growingbusinessesinthisfieldinemerg­

ingmarkets.CandidatesincludediyLaw,a

Nigerianfirmpromisingto“makelegalea­

sy”fornewcompaniesneedingtocross

registrationandotherhurdles;and,inTu­

nisia,Civitas,whichprovidescustomers

with“user­friendlyplatformsforobtain­

ingpermitsandlicences”—ie,helpsthem

navigatethebureaucracy.

Legalservices’moveonline,hastened

bythepandemic,createsanopportunityto

extendaccess andtocurbcorruption(itis

hardtopassa brownenvelopetoeventhe

user­friendliest of platforms). It does,

however, risk further discrimination

againstthosewithlessaccesstotheinter­

net,andraiseconcernsaboutprivacyand

thesecurityofdata. Andit isworthbearing

inmindthatmostjusticeproblemsdonot

involvetheformallegalsystematall.In

manycountriesperhapsthebestwayto

improveaccesstojusticeistodevotemore

resourcesto helping grassrootsactivists

working with those who would never

dreamofgoingtocourt.n

-4 -2 0 2 4

Nodata

←Declining Improving→

Source: World Justice Project *13    countries, scores range from 0 to 1 where 1 signifies the strongest adherence to the rule of law

They fought the law and the law lost

Rule of Law index overall score*, 2021

% change on a year earlier