International Legal Regulation and Supranational Interaction in Counteracting the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Proposals

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study problems of international legal regulation and supranational cooperation in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. The institutional and international legal mechanism of counteraction to the spread of the pandemic is analyzed. The problem moments of realization of provisions of the main international acts in the area of counteraction to the Coronavirus disease by the national governments are marked out. The methodological basis for the article is general and special methods and techniques of scientific knowledge, in particular: formal-logical, Aristotelian method, method of documentary, system-structured method, formal and legal method, forecasting method, method of generalization. The key problems of international legal counteraction to the pandemic spread are as follows: advisory (not obligatory) character of the majority of international legal acts related to the fight against COVID-19; disinterest of the states in timely informing WHO about the outbreaks of infectious diseases; arbitrary interpretation of the international acts by national governments; human rights restrictions on the movement imposed by the states; lack of a clear funding mechanism to build the necessary global and national infrastructure to ensure commitment in accordance with the International Health Regulations.