Trinity Research in Social Sciences, in partnership with its member schools and disciplines, ran a weekly series "COVID-19 and a Changing Society". These featured insights from across the social sciences from Trinity academics and international Social Scientists.

Our third event “Human Rights and Democracy after COVID-19" was co-hosted with the School of Law and Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance (TriCon). It features Prof Gabor Halmai from the European University institute, Mr Alok Prasanna Kumar of the VIDHI Centre for Legal Policy in New Delhi, Prof. Donna Lyons from Trinity College, and Prof. Suryapratim Roy from Trinity College.

Human rights and democracy have been threatened by the Covid health crisis. While lockdown measures are a reasonable response to a public health emergency, they must respect national and international human rights frameworks. Some countries, however, have taken advantage of the crisis to entrench authoritarian projects and undermine human rights. This timely discussion explores the international human rights norms as well as the evolving situation in Hungary and India.

Gabor Halmai is Professor and Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the European University Institute in Florence. His primary research interests are comparative constitutional law and international human rights. He has published several books and articles, as well as edited volumes on these topics in English, German and Hungarian. He has previously taught and researched at the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary and Princeton University in the USA. He was previously chief advisor to the President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court.

Alok Prasanna Kumar is Senior Resident Fellow and Team Lead at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in New Delhi. His areas of research include Judicial Reforms, Constitutional law, Urban Development, and Law and Technology. He writes a monthly column for the Economic and Political Weekly and has published in the Indian Journal of Constitutional Law and National Law School of India Review apart from media outlets such as The Hindu, Indian Express, Scroll, Quint and Caravan. He has practised in the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.

Donna Lyons is assistant professor of international law at Trinity College Dublin. She researches, writes and teaches in the area of international human rights law. She is an expert member of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on Human Rights. Prior to taking up the Assistant Professor position at Trinity College, she held positions with the Law Reform Commission of Ireland and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Chairing the session will be Suryapratim Roy. He is assistant professor of Regulatory Law in the School of law. He teaches and writes on environmental law, climate law, and the law’s response to risk. Before joining academia, he was a researcher with the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg and practised infrastructure law in Mumbai.