Further comment on the human rights argument for – here against – legalising euthanasia,<\/p>\n
\u2022 Euthanasia is contrary to the International Human rights instruments.\u00a0 When the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations considered a euthanasia law enacted in the Netherlands to codify what had become euthanasia practice, the Committee said that where a State party seeks to relax legal protection with respect to an act deliberately intended to put an end to human life, the Committee believes that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights obliges it to apply the most rigorous scrutiny to determine whether the State party\u2019s obligations to ensure the right to life are being complied with (articles 2 and 6 of the Covenant).\u00a0 The Committee expressed the concerns that the new Act (in the Netherland) contains a number of conditions under which the physician is not punishable when he or she terminates the life of a person, inter alia at the \u201cvoluntary and well-considered request\u201d of the patient in a situation of \u201cunbearable suffering\u201d offering \u201cno prospect of improvement\u201d and \u201cno other reasonable solution\u201d. The Committee also expressed concern lest such a system may fail to detect and prevent situations where undue pressure could lead to these criteria being circumvented. The Committee was also concerned that, with the passage of time, such a practice may lead to routinization and insensitivity to the strict application of the requirements in a way not anticipated. The Committee learnt with unease that under the present legal system more than 2,000 cases of euthanasia and assisted suicide (or a combination of both) were reported to the Netherlands\u2019 review committee in the year 2000 and that the review committee came to a negative assessment only in three cases. The large numbers involved raise doubts whether the present system is only being used in extreme cases in which all the substantive conditions are scrupulously maintained.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Article, A dying man explains why euthanasia is dangerous<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Further comment on the human rights argument for – here against – legalising euthanasia, \u2022 Euthanasia is contrary to the International Human rights instruments.\u00a0 When the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations considered a euthanasia law enacted in the … Continue reading