with more than two guests? Can the city council ban eating meals remotely? What about the person who lived alone throughout the pandemic and who needs a visit from parents and younger brother? The answer is the challenging and ever-changing balance between human rights and infection control restrictions.
According to art. 8 Of the European Convention on Human Rights, everyone has the right to respect for his "private and family life, home and correspondence". Also those who live in Oslo. Simply put, this means that the authorities, as a rule, cannot intervene and interfere with your private life.
But there is no rule without exception. The authorities, and in this case the municipality of Oslo, can interfere with human rights if "it is lawful and necessary in a democratic society for reasons of national security" or "public security". Health protection is also underlined in the legal text.
Like balancing on a rope
In other words, interference with human rights is not illegal, but only when it is absolutely necessary. Raymond Johansen and the rest of the city council must therefore take into account, not just be able to justify, that having such strict visiting rules is more important to the preservation of public life and health than having the right to visit more people.
In other words, they must constantly evaluate human rights against the laws that allow for infection control measures in Oslo. It's like balancing on a rope.
Because it is the seriousness of the infection that decides when the public safety and public health considerations are most severe. As long as seriousness is perceived differently, one will experience otherwise how invasive the measures are.
