{"id":239101,"date":"2021-02-02T17:45:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T23:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=239101"},"modified":"2021-02-02T01:19:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T07:19:44","slug":"un-condemns-euthanasia-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/un-condemns-euthanasia-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Office of Human Rights condemns euthanasia for people with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Disability rights organizations are praising the United Nations (UN) Office of Human Rights for speaking out against disability-based euthanasia. Three UN experts issued a joint statement this week in response to numerous nations’ decision to allow physician-assisted suicide for people with disabilities, including people with old age.<\/p>\n

The experts, Gerard Quinn, Olivier De Schutter, and Claudia Mahler, expressed concern about this deadly trend and said it should be brought to an end. \u201cWe all accept that it could never be a well-reasoned decision for a person belonging to any other protected group \u2014 be it a racial minority, gender or sexual minorities \u2014 to end their lives because they experience suffering on account of their status,\u201d read the statement<\/a>. \u201cDisability should never be a ground or justification to end someone\u2019s life directly or indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experts point out that legislation permitting euthanasia based on disabilities encourages ableism, and violates Article 10 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which “requires States to ensure that persons with disabilities can effectively enjoy their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others.” Many people with disabilities do not receive equal treatment around the world, as one UN advocate recently discovered.<\/p>\n

Catalina Devandas Aguilar, a lawyer from Costa Rica and the United Nations’ first Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,\u00a0spent a week in Canada<\/a> investigating whether people with disabilities in the country are given the care and support they need. Devandas Aguilar discovered numerous cases of individuals who were pressured into euthanasia or placement in nursing homes, as well as a court system that does not reinforce their rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersons with disabilities have to initiate very lengthy and onerous legal procedures to get their rights recognized,\u201d she told CTV.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Belgian Paralympian undergoes assisted suicide at 40, though she wasn\u2019t dying<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a separate statement, Devandas Aguilar said: \u201c[D]uring my visit I have noticed that discussions about the rights of persons with disabilities are still framed in terms of social assistance, rather than from a human rights-based approach. … I have also noted significant disparities in the areas of accessibility and access to education, health, administration of justice, and social protection depending on where a person with disabilities lives in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar concerns were echoed in the statement released by the Office of Human Rights this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proportion of people with disabilities living in poverty is significantly higher, and in some countries double, than that of people without disabilities,\u201d the statement read. \u201cPeople with disabilities condemned to live in poverty due to the lack of adequate social protection can decide to end their lives as a gesture of despair. Set against the legacy of accumulated disadvantages their \u2018architecture of choice\u2019 could hardly be said to be unproblematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diane Coleman, president of the disability rights organization Not Dead Yet, praised the statement from the UN experts. She noted that every major American disability rights group<\/a> opposes assisted suicide laws, which are all too frequently passed despite pleas from people with disabilities to recognize the danger of such legislation. In\u00a0a statement<\/a> to the Catholic News Agency, Coleman applauded the UN experts for airing these concerns.<\/p>\n

“As the statement says, \u2018Disability should never be a ground or justification to end someone’s life directly or indirectly,\u2019” she said. “And we strongly agree.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disability rights organizations are praising the United Nations (UN) Office of Human Rights for speaking out against disability-based euthanasia. Three UN experts issued a joint statement this week in response to numerous nations’ decision to allow physician-assisted suicide for people with disabilities, including people with old age. The experts, Gerard Quinn, Olivier De Schutter, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":172517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUN Office of Human Rights condemns euthanasia for people with disabilities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experts from the UN Office of Human Rights speak out against disability-based euthanasia. \u201cDisability should never be a ground ... to end someone\u2019s life...\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/un-condemns-euthanasia-disabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN Office of 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