Covid-19 the Global Pandemic; Where is the Law of Polluters Pay and International Environmental Laws
SARS-CoV-2 otherwise known as COVID-19 is one of resent brand of the coronaviruses that has ravaged the whole world at a pandemic scale. It is the second deadly virus originating from China that has over 7,344,220 confirmed infested cases in 213 countries and a death toll of over 414,140 as of June, 2020. Socio-economically, the pandemic forces the whole world to a stand-still for months thereby eroding the hitherto economic gains over the years. This study therefore uses secondary data through the search engine to examine the origin and mutation of the coronaviruses transmission to human and the wet market, the impacts of the pandemic and the Chinese government responses. The study further examines the existing environmental laws, the polluters-pay-principle, the Tort law and principles of Due Diligence that can be applied to pandemic cases. The study revealed Coronalviruses do not just jump to human, that the inaction of the global bodies like WHO in the trading and consumption of wild animals that has trans-boundary implications since the outbreak of SARS in 2002 and negligence in early warning are responsible for the pandemic. It is therefore recommended that there is an urgent need for UN and Human right activist to invoke the environmental laws like the PPP, principles of ‘Due Diligence’ and the Tort law through the ICJ against the culprit and stop mortgaging human life for global G5 and G20 politics.
