In China, “for the safety of all”

The debate of ideas does not end when the temperatures rise. This summer, Time has entrusted its spaces devoted to opinions to six personalities, each on a theme and a week. It is the lawyer and war criminal hunter Alain Werner who opens the operation. He is the curator of a series of texts on international justice, of which this is the first.

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Imagine … At the end of December, you leave your office at the town hall and come home after a day of work. The words your manager said at the midday meeting still echoed in your head: “Those infected with the virus must be transformed immediately.”

It takes you a good hour to get home. Not because of the snow, but the checkpoints set up by the police all over town to verify identities and, sometimes, the contents of cell phones. “It’s for everyone’s safety,” the policeman said, scanning your purse and face before the electric gate let you through.

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