Considering the December 2013 vote
in the Belgian Senate to approve by 50 votes to 17 a proposal to
legalise euthanasia for children (without any age limit);
Bearing in mind that:
the
Committee of Ministers welcomed in this respect paragraph 9 (c) of the Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation
1418 (1999), to “encourage
the member States of the Council of Europe to respect and protect
the dignity of terminally ill or dying persons in all respects by
upholding the prohibition against intentionally taking the life
of terminally ill or dying persons”;
the Assembly, in its Resolution 1859 (2012) stated that “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”,
the undersigned
members of the Parliamentary Assembly are of the opinion that this
vote in the Belgian Senate:
betrays
some of the most vulnerable children in Belgium by accepting that
their lives may no longer have any inherent value or worth and that
they should die;
mistakenly assumes that children are able to give appropriate
informed consent to euthanasia and that they can understand the
grave meaning and complex consequences associated with such a decision;
promotes the unacceptable belief that a life can be unworthy
of life which challenges the very basis of civilised society.