Rights and Responsibilities: Protecting and Fulfilling Economic and Social Rights in Times of Public Health Emergency

This chapter introduces human rights and civic responsibilities as mutually reinforcing ideas in times of public health emergency. Based on rights and responsibilities, and taking the human rights principle of non-retrogression as a starting point, it is necessary to define positive obligations to protect and fulfil economic and social rights when responding to a serious public health crisis. Among other things, I argue that societies should be able to use privately owned resources and facilities, as it is sometimes not only legitimate but necessary to interfere with private property.