01-02-2021
Top trends we identified in Europe last year based on an analysis of the COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker data.
State responses to the pandemic have had an unprecedented impact on our core civic freedoms. While some of the restrictions are justifiable from a public health perspective, others have proved to be problematic and unnecessarily limit civic space under the guise of battling COVID-19. We believe decision makers should continuously review the proportionality and necessity of the restrictions and limit their duration.
Our short paper looks at the top trends we identified in Europe last year based on an analysis of the data from the ECNL-ICNL COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker around three focus points:
- Legislative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected civic freedoms;
- Measures implemented in practice and incidents that occurred under the pretext of battling COVID-19;
- Court decisions tackling restrictions to civic freedoms.