GENEVA — The U.N. Human Rights Council is ignoring human rights concerns regarding the practice of euthanasia in the Netherlands, according to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Global Outreach. MCCL GO Executive Director Scott Fischbach addressed the Council in Geneva today. "Euthanasia is a crime against humanity today just as it always has been in the past," Fischbach said. "The right to health, the right to life, and non-discrimination are all violated by the Dutch practice of euthanasia." The Human Rights Council conducts a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of nations to determine whether they are upholding their human rights obligations. Today the Council discussed a report on its review of the Netherlands. The report "makes no mention of the growing and troubling practice of euthanasia in the country," Fischbach said in his oral statement. "This is a startling oversight." The number of euthanasia deaths has more than doubled since 2009, Fischbach explained. These include the deaths of people with dementia and mental health problems such as depression, loneliness, and post-traumatic stress. And in 2015, according to a government-sponsored survey, 431 patients were intentionally killed without making an explicit request for death. "Euthanasia in the Netherlands is clearly out of control," said Fischbach. Fischbach also noted that U.N. treaty bodies have criticized euthanasia in the Netherlands, including the euthanasia of children under 18 and the killing of disabled infants. Yet none of this is mentioned in the UPR report. "No review of the human rights record of the Netherlands is complete without taking these facts into account," Fischbach concluded. "It is truly unfortunate that the Human Rights Council has failed to do so." MCCL GO is the U.N.- and OAS-accredited global outreach program of the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Education Fund. Our goal is to protect as many human beings as possible from the destruction of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Learn more at www.mccl-go.org.
- MCCL