CAN CHINA BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS ROLE IN THE OUTBREAK OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

Öz

A breach of an international obligation entails that State's international responsibility, which entails a reparation obligation of that State or the right of the injured State to seek redress or to resort to countermeasures, or, in certain cases, the international community as a whole to respond by certain means to this unlawful act. The most usual consequence of an act contrary to international law is that the state that suffered from this act automatically resorted to the measures and procedures stipulated in international law in order to fulfill the obligation violated by the state that came into effect or to obtain redress from that state. When we look at the studies on the concept of state responsibility in the literature, it is seen that there is a violation of the obligation in the regional sense due to the arrangement of the damages caused by the neighboring states to each other or the damage of more than one state as a result of an event. In this regard, within the scope of the concept of state responsibility, it is seen that a phenomenon such as the pandemic, which affects all the states of the world globally, is not discussed much. Although the studies on COVID-19 so far have generally dealt with the economic, political, psychological, sociological and health services dimensions caused by the pandemic, it is seen that the issue has not been examined much from the international law dimension. This is also valid for the COVID-19 Pandemic, which affected the whole world and caused more than 4.5 million deaths and nearly 1 billion people to become ill. At this point, people and governments are trying to find the answer to the question of who is or should be responsible for this global epidemic. In a way, everyone is looking for a scapegoat. In particular, the USA and European states expect China to take full responsibility as a state and compensate for its losses on the grounds that it does not fulfill its international obligations and causes the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to the world. In this respect, this study explains the concept of state responsibility in international law in general and examines the approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic through this concept. Although the studies on COVID-19 so far have generally dealt with the economic, political, psychological, sociological and health services dimensions caused by the pandemic, it is seen that the issue has not been examined much from the international law dimension. In the study, the basic principles regarding the concept of State Responsibility were explained using the literature review method, and then the problem of whether the Chinese government fulfilled its responsibilities and international obligations in the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic to the whole world was tried to be examined. Although the concept of state responsibility is one of the basic principles of international law, there are not many academic studies directly examining this issue in the literature, since the pandemic, which has been affecting the whole world for about two years, is relatively new. In this respect, it is expected that this study will contribute to the literature.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• International Law
• State Responsibility
• COVID-19 Pandemic
• International Wrongful Act
• Breach of International Obligation

ÇİN, KOVİD-19 PANDEMİSİNİN YAYILMASINDAN SORUMLU TUTULABİLİR Mİ?

Öz

Uluslararası bir yükümlülüğün ihlali, o Devletin uluslararası sorumluluğunu gerektirir, bu da ilgili devletin tazminat yükümlülüğünü veya zarar gören devletin tazminat arama ya da karşı önlemlere başvurma hakkını veya bazı durumlarda belirli yollarla bu yasa dışı eyleme karşı uluslararası toplumun bir bütün olarak yanıt verme hakkını gerektirmektedir. Uluslararası hukuka aykırı bir fiilin en olağan sonucu, bu fiilden zarar gören devletin, ihlal ettiği yükümlülüğünü yerine getirmek veya tazminini sağlamak için otomatik olarak uluslararası hukukta öngörülen tedbir ve usullere başvurmasıdır. Literatürde devlet sorumluluğu kavramı ile ilgili çalışmalara bakıldığında genel itibariyle çalışmaların komşu devletlerin birbirlerine verdikleri zararların tanzim edilmesi veya meydana gelen bir olay neticesinde birden fazla devletin zarar görmesi nedeniyle bölgesel anlamda oluşan bir yükümlülük ihlalinin olduğu görülmektedir. Bu bakımdan devlet sorumluluğu kavramı kapsamında küresel olarak tüm dünya devletlerini etkileyen pandemi gibi bir olgunun pek fazla tartışılmadığı görülmektedir. Bu durum tüm dünyayı etkileyen ve 4,5 milyondan fazla insanın ölmesine ve yaklaşık 1 milyar insanın hasta olmasına neden olan COVID-19 Pandemisi içinde geçerlidir. Gelinen noktada insanlar ve hükümetler sözkonusu bu küresel salgından kimin sorumlu olduğu veya olması gerektiği sorusunun cevabını bulmaya çalışıyorlar. Bir bakıma aslında herkes bir günah keçisi arıyor. Özellikle ABD ve Avrupalı devletler, Çin'in uluslararası yükümlülüklerini yerine getirmediği ve COVID-19 pandemisinin dünyaya yayılmasına neden olduğu gerekçesiyle devlet olarak tüm sorumluluğu üstlenmesini ve meydana gelen zararlarının karşılanmasını bekliyorlar. Bu bakımdan bu çalışma genel olarak Uluslararası hukukta yer alan devlet sorumluluğu kavramını açıklayarak bu kavram üzerinden COVID-19 pandemisine yönelik yaklaşımları incelemektedir. Şimdiye kadar yapılan COVID-19 ile ilgili çalışmalar genel olarak pandeminin neden olduğu ekonomik, siyasi, psikolojik, sosyolojik ve sağlık hizmetleri boyutuyla ele alsalarda konunun uluslararası hukuk boyutundan pek fazla incelenmediği görülmektedir. Çalışmada literature taraması yöntemi kullanılarak Devlet Sorumluluğu kavramına ilişkin olarak temel prensipler açıklanmış ve sonrasında ise Çin hükümetinin COVID-19 salgının tüm dünyaya yayılmasındaki sorumlulukları ve uluslararası yükümlülükleri yerine getirip getirmediği sorunsalı incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Her he kadar devlet sorumluluğu kavramı uluslararası hukukun temel prensiplerinden biri olsa da yaklaşık 2 yıldan beri tüm dünyayı etkileyen pandeminin göreceli olarak yeni olması nedeniyle literatürde doğrudan bu konuyu inceleyen pek fazla akademik çalışma bulunmamaktadır. Bu bakımdan bu çalışmanın literature katkı sağlayacağı beklenmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Uluslararası Hukuk
• Devlet Sorumluluğu
• COVID-19 Pandemisi
• Uluslararası Haksız Eylem Uluslararası Yükümlülüğün İhlali

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