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Euthanasia and assisted suicide should be banned in every country in the Continent, the Council of Europe has ruled. In a declaration that will have legal implications in its 47 member states, the Strasbourg-based organisation announced that such practices “must always be prohibited”. The move will represent a significant setback to assisted dying campaigners in countries such as Britain who want to follow Holland, Belgium and Switzerland in allowing doctors to kill their patients or help them commit suicide.
 
The explicit condemnation of euthanasia was inserted into a non-binding resolution entitled “Protecting human rights and dignity by taking into account previously expressed wishes of patients”. The resolution had originally simply focused on the human rights questions of so-called living wills, in which people set out how they wish to be treated should they become mentally incapacitated. But members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe argued that living wills were inextricably connected to euthanasia. They successfully moved an amendment forbidding euthanasia by 34 votes to 16 with six abstentions. The amendment said “euthanasia, 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”.
 
Among those fighting for the amendment was Edward Leigh, the Tory MP for Gainsborough and a member of the assembly. He referred to the case of Kerrie Wooltorton, a 26 year-old from Norwich who died from poisoning in 2007 after her living will prevented doctors from resuscitating her. “Can my fellow delegates here in Strasbourg imagine how they would feel if they received a phone call informing them that one of their children had drunk poison and that ambulance and hospital staff who had everything necessary to save the child’s life stood by not helping instead as the child lay dying?” Mr Leigh asked. “That is a situation that advanced directives or living wills allow.” “This is not alarmist talk,” he added, “this is the historic fact, the track record.”
 
The Council of Europe was set up in 1949 to further integration by harmonising human rights laws among European states, although it is unable to pass laws itself. Its resolution on euthanasia will help define the principles that should govern the application of living wills in its member states. The Council bases its work on the European Convention on Human Rights. It includes the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the convention and to which Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their rights.
 
The decision is being hailed as a major pro-life victory. The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) said this is the first time in recent decades that euthanasia has been so clearly rejected by a European political institution. It is a major victory in the battle to defend life and the ECLJ noted that it came a year after the European Court declared that there is no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide under the European Convention. The resolution should also have an impact on a forthcoming decision by the European Court in the case of Koch v. Germany, concerning a ban on assisted suicide in Germany, said Grégor Puppinck, Director of the ECLJ. 
 
The purpose of the resolution (No 1859/2012), is to define the principles that should govern the practice of “living wills” or “advance directives” in Europe. These may apply, for example, when there is doubt about whether to resuscitate a patient or to continue to use extraordinary means to keep someone alive. Because advance directives are open to abuse, and can be a backdoor for introducing euthanasia or assisted suicide into legislation, the PACE has made a list of principles on how to govern this practice in the 47 states of the Council of Europe. According to the ECLJ the list is based on principles elaborated in three documents previously adopted in the Council of Europe, including the convention on human rights and biomedicine (Oviedo Convention), which legally binds the majority of member states. Because of growing concerns about euthanasia, the Assembly judged it is necessary to state explicitly the basic principle that intentional killing must always be prohibited. “This resolution is a clear indication that the growing majority of Europeans is opposed to euthanasia,” said Puppinck.
 
Even if this resolution is not legally binding on member states, it has a real influence on the legislative process and on the judicial process, especially on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, the ECLJ communiqué stated.
Zenit. January 26. The Daily Telegraph. January 28.