2023-05-19 03:30:05
Without waiting for a potential ” law Project “ on the end of life that Emmanuel Macron promised to build “by the end of summer”supporters of the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide engage the offensive on the legal ground. Does the absence of legislation in France on active assistance in dying contravene the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights? This is, in essence, the question raised by a series of thirty similar applications, filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), at the end of April. At the origin of this initiative, French members or members residing in France of the Swiss association Dignitas (known for supporting people in their assisted suicide), following exhaustion of the means of appeal at the French level.
Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, who represents the applicants, explains: “Our idea is that since 2002 [et l’arrêt Pretty contre Royaume-Uni], there has not been a case where the ECHR has ruled on a right to die with dignity. » The Pretty Stop – named following an incurably ill Briton who had fought a long legal battle to obtain the right for her husband to assist in his death – recognised, in cautious terms, that the prohibition of the practice of assisted suicide by the criminal law of a State may constitute an interference with the right to respect for the private life of the persons concerned. But, at the same time, the ECHR established that the need to protect the lives of the most vulnerable people as well as the risks of abuse might justify the prohibition of assisted suicide. She thus judged that the “right to life”enshrined in Article 2 of the Convention, did not imply a right to die, contrary to the position defended by the militants of Dignitas.
Since then, the Strasbourg court has had the opportunity to rule on the subject of euthanasia, but in the case of countries where the law authorizes it. These judgments concerned countries (Switzerland, for example) where legislation on assisted suicide already existed. The Court thus set limits to a right, it framed it. In a decision dating from 2012, the ECHR recognized that “the right of an individual to decide how and when his life should end”, provided that this choice is made freely, flowed from the provisions of the Convention. Finally, in October 2022, the ECHR admitted – with some reservations – the compatibility of the Belgian law on euthanasia and assisted suicide with the text.
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