Law and Global Health Security (LAWS90215)

The importance of health to the functioning of societies, and to our globalized world, has never been more apparent than it is today. The global and national crises that COVID-19 has generated have underscored why health has, over the last two decades, increasingly been framed as a matter of national and international security. This subject will trace this ‘securitisation of health’ and explore its implications for global health and global health law and governance.

The subject will interrogate the following matters: the extent to which understanding health through a ‘security’ lens might either promote or undermine good health practices and outcomes, and international health cooperation; the key international legal frameworks for health security, and proposals to strengthen these frameworks in light of the COVID-19 experience; tensions reflected in the differing approaches of states to their national borders during public health emergencies; and the key actors in global health security, both globally and domestically, and across sectors and disciplines, e.g. public health, law enforcement, military. This subject will explore these aspects of health security primarily through consideration of infectious diseases, while also touching on challenges posed by antimicrobial resistance, climate change and bioterrorism.

The subject will be highly topical, exploring the most recent developments in global responses to COVID-19 and to preparedness for future pandemics, including proposals to develop a new pandemic treaty and to amend the International Health Regulations.

Principal topics will include:

• The evolution of the concept of health security
• Infectious diseases and health security – HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and COVID-19
• International legal frameworks for health security
• The roles of key global actors particularly the World Health Organization, and other international bodies including the UN Security Council
• Adoption of border restrictions by states to prevent and control the international spread of disease
• Collaboration and tensions across disciplines and sectors (e.g. public health, law enforcement, military)
• Tensions between health and ‘law and order’ approaches to health crises
• Implications of health and ‘law and order’ approaches for human rights, including the right to health and other economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights