Dr. Ayelet Berman (CIL), Dr. Marija Jovanovic (Essex), in collaboration with Kate Apostolova and Maleeha Khan (Mayer Brown LLP (Singapore/New York), were granted leave by the European Court of Human Rights to submit a Third Party intervention in the case of Vesna Pešić and Others v Serbia (Application Nos. 48973/20, 54565/20, and 54676/20). The Brief , available here, informed the court of the key emerging principles and practices pertaining to limitations on the freedom of movement of older persons during pandemics (and other public health/humanitarian emergencies). The Brief draws from findings, guidance, and recommendations of leading international, regional, and civil society organizations, and from state practice in over a hundred jurisdictions. Kriti Sharma (CIL) provided research assistance.

The case:

The case of Vesna Pešić and Others v Serbia (Application Nos. 48973/20, 54565/20, and 54676/20) concerns measures adopted by the Serbian authorities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic which limited the freedom of movement of older persons (aged 65 and above). The freedom of movement is guaranteed by Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The key issue for the Court is to determine whether the impugned measures amount to justified limitations of the freedom of movement and whether they justifiably discriminated between different categories of people within the State’s jurisdiction. For more information about the case, please see: here.