The Vital Role of Law in the COVID-19 Response: Key Lessons from Advancing the Right to Health

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging governments around the world to manage, coordinate and expand the key building blocks of a well-functioning health system. At both global and local levels, the law is a powerful tool for advancing the right to health and addressing public health emergencies. Now more than ever, strong legal capacity is needed to support effective national and international responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advancing the Right to Health: The Vital Role of Law (2017) and its Update and Summary Guide (2018), co-published by the World Health Organization, IDLO, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, and the University of Sydney provide key lessons that can support States as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and advance Agenda 2030 and SDGs 3 and 16.

As the only global inter-governmental organization exclusively devoted to promoting the rule of law and sustainable development, IDLO’s efforts in the COVID-19 response focus on the importance of effective public health law frameworks, the need to ensure protection of the most vulnerable members of society, and promoting a just, sustainable and equitable recovery.