No to euthanasia

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe gives its determined consensus to “living will” and an equally determined ‘no’ to euthanasia and assisted suicide. In the last days of the winter plenary, that closed on January 27 in Strasbourg, MEPs focused, inter alia, on democracy and human rights in Russia, Hungary, Belarus and Iraq (previous reports on SIR Europe 06-07/2012). No to euthanasia and assisted suicide. With Resolution 1859 “Protecting human rights and dignity by taking into account previously expressed wishes of patients”, the Assembly underlines the need for all Member States to adopt a legislation regarding early treatment statements, but it blocks the way to “intentional killing by act or omission”. “In the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited”, is written in Art.5. And, “in case of doubt, the decision must always be pro-life and the prolongation of life”. The resolution thus recommends that member states sign, ratify and fully implement the Convention on human rights and biomedicine (known as Oviedo Convention). Although it is not binding for all 47 CoE countries, the resolution adopted in Strasbourg could strongly impact the rulings of the Court of Human Rights and thus also national legislations. Page of reference. “A page of reference for the defense of life and its dignity”. Thus the permanent observer of the Holy See at the Council of Europe Msgr. Aldo Giordano, described the adoption of resolution 1859 to SIR Europe. “The statement on euthanasia – he explained – is of utmost importance”. The Holy See representative thus conveyed his gratitude for “the brave work of MEPs, especially in the EPP group chaired by Luca Volontè, who presented the decisive amendment”. The permanent observer underlines another passage of the document, which states: “in case of doubt, the decision must always be pro-life and the prolongation of life”. “This principle contains secular wisdom”, Msgr. Giordano remarked, hoping that “this document may be referred to in decisions at European and national level, notably by the European Court for Human Rights. It is a new sign that shows that there is a part of Europe that intends to recover the meaning of the infinite mystery of life and death; that wishes to reaffirm that life is always the priority that doesn’t depend on our arbitrary decision; that is tired of a culture that considers itself prevailing, which tries to conceal the contempt of life with a false understanding of freedom”. Hungary, Russia, Iraq. During the meeting PACE Monitoring Committee has requested an opinion from the Venice Commission, the Council’s group of independent legal experts, on whether another five laws recently adopted in Hungary are in line with the Council’s standards. “Never since 1993 has the political situation in Russia been as open as it is today”, said Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), opening the debate on “Russia between two elections” (December 4 2011- March 4 2012, editor’s note). “This openness was a “structural opportunity” for Russia said Mr Gross, who is also a co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Russia. Also Iraq was at the centre of the PACE session. MEPs adopted a resolution that called on the Iraqi authorities not to turn Camp Liberty – the camp in Ashraf that hosts 3500 members of the Iranian resistance forces – into a prison, and called on the UNHCR to begin its work in Ashraf and end the delay in affirming the refugee status of the residents there” and speed up their relocation to third countries. Appeal to the government in Minsk. Presenting the latest annual report of his mandate, the outgoing Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, said that Europe “must move with more determination from rhetoric to enforcement of human rights standards”, among the areas requiring “stronger political action” he includes “the justice system, which is dysfunctional in several member states”. Jean-Claude Mignon, new president of the Assembly, launched launched an urgent appeal to the competent Belarusian authorities not to execute the two young men convicted for the bombing of the Minsk metro in April 2011: ” “The Assembly is opposed, as a matter principle, to the use of capital punishment in any circumstances. But in the cases of Dmitry Konovalev and Vladislav Kovalev, I also have serious doubts whether these two youths ever committed the despicable act of terrorism for which they were convicted”.