Actual Problems and New Prospects

The conference was organized by the German Federal Bar. Konstantin Dobrynin, State Secretary, represented the Russian Federal Bar Association. During the speech, he emphasized that lawyers - experts in the protection of the rights of citizens and business need to be more actively involved in protecting the principle of the rule of law, and the task of the legal community is not to stand aside when developing legislative measures.

Dr. Ulrich Wessels, President of the German Federal Bar, Dr. Veronika Horrer, Director of the German Federal Bar, Raphael Tay, Member of the Executive Committee of the LAWASIA, Donald Deya, CEO of the Pan-African Lawyers Union, participated in the discussion.

Dr. Veronika Horrer noted that COVID pandemic has affected all areas of our lives and caused suffering and struggle all over the world. The struggle to uphold the Rule of Law is one of them. «The government measures that were introduced in order to fight the pandemic drastically restricted human rights and citizens’ rights and had a huge impact on the democratic institutions. Worldwide we experience a considerable shift of powers to the executive branch; some governments have literally jumped on the crisis to increase their powers. Providing access to justice for citizens – the main reason why the lawyers’ profession exists – has become a difficult task», she said.

Dr. Wessels stressed that adherence to democratic values and high standards of quality of justice are one of the main achievements of Germany after World War II and Germany is justly proud of them. However, daily hard work is required to maintain these standards, both within Germany and in the European Union, where the rule of law is at risk in many countries.

Ulrich Wessels said that in the second half of 2020, during its presidency of the Council of the EU, Germany initiated a project for an expert assessment of the rule of law in the EU countries. The project aims to ensure an open and constructive dialogue on the rule of law and to promote a common understanding of the principles of the rule of law.

Dr. Wessels also spoke about the problems that arose in Germany during the pandemic.

In particular, difficulties arose related to the separation of powers in decision making. Many decisions were taken by the executive branch - Chancellor and the cabinet of Minister-Presidents of the federal states, without extensive legislative discussion. Members of state parliaments and the national parliament were not sufficiently involved in the process. A number of legislative acts included norms not related to the pandemic. So, in June 2020, the parliament adopted a law to reduce the tax burden in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, new mechanisms for toughening punishment for tax crimes had nothing to do with the pandemic.

Another problem, which Ulrich Wessels spoke about, is the insufficient level of digitalization and technical equipment of courts, prosecutor and police offices. The judicial system turned out to be unprepared to work in the new conditions. Long delays have affected especially criminal proceedings.

The German Federal Bar stands for accelerating the digitalization of the judicial system, transparency and more active involvement of the legal community in decision making. A working group for the protection of the rule of law has been set up in the German Federal Bar.

Konstantin Dobrynin noted that the measures taken all over the world during the pandemic were similar. According to him, there are currently two groups of risks caused by the consequences of the pandemic. The first group includes economic and political risks. On the one hand, the economy was hit hard during the crisis. On the other hand, the authorities seek to find simple legislative solutions that often threaten human rights, in particular the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of movement. The second group includes professional risks. Today the bars and the legal community have two goals - to protect the health and interests of lawyers and their clients.

Konstantin Dobrynin also spoke about the probable introduction of COVID passports. In his opinion, there is a danger of restricting freedom of movement and violating the basic rights of citizens. At the same time, the introduction of vaccine passports, is an opportunity to work out a united legislative solution for all states that suits everyone. The main thing is that the rights of people are not violated, and the task of the legal community is also not to stand aside when developing such legislative measures.

He also stressed that lawyers who are experts in the protection of the rights of citizens and business should be more actively involved in the protection of the principle of the rule of law. The legal community should become more united. Otherwise, according to Konstantin Dobrynin, we may soon wake up in another world, and we will not like it.

Raphael Tay drew attention to the advent of the age of surveillance capitalism. It is characterized by the collection of personal data of users by global IT corporations and an unprecedented attack on privacy. The coronavirus pandemic, during which the authorities of many countries initiated the collection of information on the movement of their citizens, accelerated this process. The work to protect basic human rights and freedoms in these conditions should be one of the priorities for the legal community around the world.

Donald Deya talked about how the pandemic affected the situation in Africa. According to him, the leaders of many African countries denied the coronavirus problem itself and didn’t take any measures to fight the pandemic. In some countries, such as Nigeria and Kenya, the number of victims of police brutality aimed at enforcing restrictive measures is comparable to the number of victims of the coronavirus itself.

The authorities also used restrictive measures for their own purposes. For example, in Uganda, during the campaign for the general elections for president and parliament, opposition campaigning was stopped to prevent the spread of the pandemic, while mass actions by the ruling party were carried out without restrictions.

Donald Deya also noted some positive changes. Many countries have delegated the solution of a number of issues to the local level, depending on the situation in each specific area. In some cases, the work of the justice system was managed by an assembly, which included representatives of public authorities and the legal community. In Kenya and Tanzania, a number of court hearings took place outside the courtroom. The practice of alternative dispute resolution has grown in popularity.

At the same time, the pandemic revealed serious problems related to the insufficient level of digitalization in most African countries.

In summing up the discussion, Ulrich Wessels noted that the coronavirus pandemic once again reminded us that our world is very imperfect but with challenges and problems come opportunities and it allows us to stay optimistic.