Excessive imposition of states of emergency

The declaration of states of emergency by governments allow them to suspend, limit or abolish essential judicial guarantees which can degenerate into serious, systematic violations of human rights. Excessive numbers of such declarations can become commonplace and are liable to become perennial.

While in some cases states of emergency are justified, the following countries were reported in the period between August 1987 to November 1988 to have proclaimed, extended or continued states of emergency:

Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Lesotho, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe

Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname

Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Israel, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syrian AR, Taiwan (Rep of China)

Fiji, Papua New Guinea

France, Turkey, UK