Prof. Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou and Dr. Klearchos A. Kyriakides informs you about RoLMM of the School of Law of UCLan Cyprus.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is the rule of law safe or unsafe?
This is among the questions to be examined by the Rule of Law Monitoring Mechanism (RoLMM), a new online initiative of UCLan Cyprus.
The formation of RoLMM has been prompted by the global spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the decision of the World Health Organization, on 11 March 2020, to declare the existence of a pandemic. Its formation has also been motivated by a growing concern for – and determination to protect – the rule of law, the proper administration of justice, human dignity and fundamental freedoms as well as rights including the right to life and socio-economic rights. These and so many other characteristics of a democratic society that are at risk of being adversely affected amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic or any other crisis of comparable magnitude.
RoLMM has not emerged from a vacuum. It is founded on the expertise of the academics of the School of Law of UCLan Cyprus, their long-standing knowledge transfer activities and their past or ongoing research projects relating to the rule of law or crises of one sort or another. See for example
- 2018 Roundtable of Experts, Rule of Law backsliding in the EU
- 2019 Roundtable of Experts, Rule of Law backsliding in the EU
- EU externally funded project (2014-17), ‘The Law of Financial and Economic Governance in the EU’
- EU externally funded project (2019-22), ‘EU Law and Governance in Populist Times’
In the light of the above, the primary purposes of RoLMM are to ask questions, to raise concerns, to highlight issues and to strive to hold public authorities as well as other decision makers to account. To these ends, RοLMM offers a peer-reviewed online platform, which is open to academics, law students, members of the legal profession, other professionals, law enforcement officers, other public servants and all other persons who care about the rule of law.
The platform will initially operate at the existing open access Law Blog of UCLan Cyprus at http://lawblog.uclancyprus.ac.cy/. It will simultaneously be relayed via publicly available platforms, websites and/or other specialised social media.
Read more about The Rule of Law Monitoring Mechanism
