COVID-19 and the International obligations of states concerning Control of the pandemic diseases

In the vicissitudinous history of public health in the world, emerging and
reemerging pandemic diseases as one of the realities of social life according to
its context and time have repeatedly afflicted human civilizations. The rapid
outbreak of these diseases on a global scale without respect for the sanctity of
national borders is a natural result and the logical consequence of thousands of
kinds of solidarity and interdependence between states and nations. The spread
of Covid-19 at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, and the
different reactions of states to the outbreak of this disease in the realm of their
territory, indicate an astonishing dispersion to confront this insurgent virus.
Today, there is no doubt that any effective measure to control and eradicate
pandemic diseases such as Covid-19, has a close link with the cooperation and
coordination of members of the international community. The international
legal system has played a prominent role in international efforts to control
contagious and pandemic diseases. Although different and complex aspects of
the relationship between the international legal system and pandemic diseases
have involved a range of different legal regimes, with a little contemplation
one can determine the closeness and the intersection between their
requirements. The present essay seeks to provide an answer to the question of
what international obligations the international legal system has concerning
the control of pandemic diseases, especially Covid-19. The findings of the
present study show that the 2005 International Health Regulations, along with
some provisions of the 1994 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures, form the core of governments' international
obligations to control pandemic diseases, including Covid-19, although there
are shortcomings in these Obligations.