THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF ROMANIA – ENTITIES INVOLVED IN THE AFFIRMATION OF FREEDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CRISIS SITUATIONS

Abstract

The People’s Advocate and the Constitutional Court of Romania – Entities Involved in the Affirmation of Freedom and Human Rights in Crisis Situations.
The paper includes a brief presentation of the research results regarding the possibility of two entities with a special legal status in Romania - the People’s Advocate and the Constitutional Court - to participate in the management of internal social crises that have arisen against the background of world crises, with special regard to the affirmation of  freedom and human rights in crisis situations. We will identify the limits of action and assess the possibility of expanding the competence of these entities or supplementing the action mechanisms at their disposal. The role and action mechanisms of the People’s Advocate, as an autonomous public authority, are analyzed both from a legal point  of view and from the point of view of its practice in several social crisis situations manifested in Romania as a result of the existence of crisis situations at the global level. Starting from the legal force of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Romania, its jurisprudence was analyzed with an impact on the management of certain crisis situations,  especially in the field of asserting freedom and human rights. Structurally, the paper contains eight headings. In the first heading we have presented the reasons of our research. The second heading analyzes the concept of crisis, emphasizing that there is also a positive side to crisis situations, consisting in the fact that most of the time they  determine progress by forcing  people to find solutions out of crisis, occasion that also results in the improvement of social relations, or of concepts. The third heading presents the role of the People’s Advocate, his action mechanisms criticizing the limits of action within which he is required to work. The fourth heading includes a critical presentation of the regulations regarding the competence and mode of action of the Constitutional Court of Romania. The fifth heading is a case study on the involvement of the People’s Advocate and the Constitutional Court in the management of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the sixth heading includes the case study about  Ukrainian refugees. In the seventh heading, we answer to the following questions: a) Can People’s Advocate and the Constitutional Court of Romania contribute to the prevention of the violation of freedom and human rights through actions that strengthen the role of education in society, starting from the premise that the level of education is the  first element that can mitigate or increase a state of crisis? b) Is digitization a tool that can prevent crises? The paper concludes with de lege ferenda proposals.