More than 50 members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly signed a Written Declaration opposing proposals to extend Belgium’s euthanasia laws to children, it was reported in January.
The proposals were approved in December by a vote of 50-17 in the Belgium Senate and are to go before the House of Representative for further scrutiny. If passed, they would make Belgium the first country to introduce euthanasia for minors.
In the Written Declaration, 58 members of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Group affirmed that the move ‘betrays some of the most vulnerable children in Belgium’ and ‘promotes the unacceptable belief that a life can be unworthy of life, which challenges the very basis of civilised society’.
