Disability is not a reason to legalise assisted suicide, human rights experts have stressed in a powerful statement issued by the United Nations (UN).
The experts have condemned the growing trend to legalise assisted suicide based on individuals “having a disability or disabling conditions, including in old age”.
“We all accept that it could never be a well-reasoned decision for a person belonging to any other protected group – be it a racial minority, gender or sexual minorities – to end their lives because they experience suffering on account of their status,” the experts said.
“Disability should never be a ground or justification to end someone’s life directly or indirectly.”
The experts – Gerard Quinn, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities; Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; and Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons – are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
The experts warned that assisted suicide laws that cite disability as grounds for assisted suicide would institutionalise and legally authorise ableism, a form of discrimination against those with disabilities. They point out that this would directly violate Article 10 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which requires states to ensure that people with disabilities can effectively enjoy their inherent right to life on an equal basis with others.
The experts argued that when assisted suicide is normalised for people who are not terminally ill, such legislative provisions tend to rest on ableist assumptions about the inherent ‘quality of life’ or ‘worth’ of the life of a person with a disability.
“These assumptions, which are grounded in ableism and associated stereotypes, have been decisively rejected by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disability is not a burden or a deficit of the person. It is a universal aspect of the human condition,” they said.
“Under no circumstance should the law provide that it could be a well-reasoned decision for a person with a disabling condition who is not dying to terminate their life with the support of the state.”
The experts also warned that when access to medically assisted suicide is restricted to those at the end of life or with a terminal illness, people with disabilities, older persons and especially older persons with disabilities may feel pressured to end their lives prematurely due to attitudinal barriers as well as the lack of appropriate services and support.
They also pointed out that the proportion of people with disabilities living in poverty is significantly higher and in some countries double than that of people without disabilities.
“People 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,” they said. “Set against the legacy of accumulated disadvantages their ‘architecture of choice’ could hardly be said to be unproblematic.”
The experts also expressed concern at the lack of involvement of people with disabilities, as well their representative organisations, in drafting such legislation.
“It is paramount that the voices of people with disabilities of all ages and backgrounds are heard when drafting laws, policies and regulations that affect their rights, and especially when we talk about the right to life,” they said.
“Ensuring that people with disabilities and their representative organisations participate meaningfully in key legislative processes affecting them, including with regard to assisted dying, is a key component of States’ obligations to promote, protect and fulfil human rights and respect everyone’s right to life on an equal basis.”
Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.
Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.
Picture: The UN flag is seen during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the world body’s headquarters in New York City on 24th September 2019. (CNS photo/Yana Paskova, Reuters).
