HIRIM chairman participates in symposium held in the Philippines

12-08-2022 | HIRIM redactie

On 11 August 2022 the University of the Philippines organized the hybrid event “Human Rights and Videoconferencing in Courts”.

Mr Aniel Pahladsingh started with his lecture in which he gave an overview of the situation in Europe. He referred to the findings in the article which he wrote with Mr. P. Gori with the title “Fundamental rights under Covid-19: an European perspective on videoconferencing in court”.

The Covid-19 outbreak has affected the world in dramatic fashion and led to emergency measures in most Member States of the EU, aimed to contrast a deadly pandemic with few precedents in modern times. Restrictions on human rights (as an effect of emergency measures) have been put in place and justified as exceptional measures to protect public health. Subsequently, in most countries, ordinary hearings, held physically in a Courtroom, were no longer possible in a specific limited period. In his lecture Mr. Pahladsingh gave an overview of important safeguards to protect fundamental rights which can be derived from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore examples of the Dutch and European case law were discussed as the challenges for the future regarding videoconferencing in Courts.

Mr. Raul B. Villaneuva, Court adminsitrator at the Supreme Court and Mr. Jose Manuel I. Diokno lawyer, educator, and human rights advocate) were the reactors in which they reflected on the situation in the Philippines in relation to the fundamental rights protection.

They concluded that the article of Mr. Gori and Pahladsingh gave new insights for the discussion in the Philippines regarding the fundamental rights protection of persons in videoconferencing in Courts. They also agree with the new challenges in this perspective and also concluded that the advantages of videoconferencing should stay in the future.