When a novel coronavirus was first reported as having been contracted by people in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, there was a lot of discussion about the potential source of the virus. On January 12, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement saying that “[t]he evidence is highly suggestive that the outbreak is …
Please join us for the Law Library's upcoming webinar: "Worlds Apart: Legal Responses to COVID-19 in New Zealand and Sweden" at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 24, 2020. This webinar is the latest installment in the Law Library's series of webinars focused on foreign and comparative law. In this webinar, we will discuss and compare the overarching policies and approaches of the two countries, outline the relevant laws, and a look at how the two governments have communicated with the public about the pandemic and the approaches taken.
This is a guest post by Kayahan Cantekin, a foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. In many countries around the world, discussions on whether and how to reopen schools continue to preoccupy people, especially in light of the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in …
Eritrea is one of the most difficult African jurisdictions for which to conduct legal research. This is primarily because the country’s laws are not easily accessible. While a few proclamations and notices have been uploaded to various websites piecemeal, there is not a central location where researchers can access the laws of the country for …
The following is a guest post from Nicolas Boring, the foreign law specialist covering French- speaking jurisdictions at the Law Library of Congress. Nicolas has previously blogged about “Bastille Day” Is About More Than the Bastille, among others. In 2016, the French government adopted a labor law that, among other provisions, included a right to disconnect. This …
This is a guest post by Francisco Macías, head of the Iberia/Rio Office Section in the African, Latin American, and Western European Division (ALAWE) of the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate. Francisco was formerly a senior legal information analyst in the Law Library of Congress. Hello! I wish everyone safety and good health during this …
August 1, 2020, marks the 40th anniversary of Vigdis Finbogadottir's inauguration as President of Iceland on August 1, 1980. She was the first woman to be democratically elected president in any nation. Learn more about her and the Icelandic Presidency in this blog post.
So far, Japan and South Korea’s COVID-19 infection and mortality rates are relatively low despite neither country having been locked down. Both countries had the first cases of infection very early, in mid-January. The measures the two countries took appear different. South Korea was widely regarded as a model country in combating the pandemic. South …
It appears that COVID-19 will not go away any time soon. As there is currently no known cure or vaccine against it, countries have to find other ways to prevent and mitigate the spread of this infectious disease. Many countries have turned to electronic measures to provide general information and advice on COVID-19, allow people to …