ABSTRACT
At the onset of the pandemic, it was imperative for states to adopt measures to protect their citizens from the COVID-19 virus, and failure to do so would have risked breaching the rights of such citizens under Article 2 (the right to life) and Article 3 (the right to be free from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). However, conversely, the protective measures which were put in place themselves raised human rights issues, and cases are being brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in which applicants argue that measures put in place by states entailed violations of their rights. One of the most prominent aspects of the responses of states to the pandemic was to put in place measures prohibiting or restricting public gatherings, and it is on this aspect that Chapter 3 focuses. Such measures raise issues in relation to the right to freedom of assembly and association under Article 11 of the ECHR as well as the right to freedom of expression under Article 10, in the case of public gatherings for the purpose of peaceful protest, and the right to freedom of religion under Article 9, in the case of gatherings for collective worship.
