Political Network for Values (PNfV) will address “Euthanasia and the Abandonment of the Vulnerable” in the next Transatlantic Dialogues webinar on Friday, May 23rd at 16h CET.
We will be joined in the online event by Paolo Inselvini, Italian Member of the European Parliament; Luis Miguel López Aristizával, Member of the Colombian House of Representatives; Garnett Genuis, Member of the Canadian Parliament; and Amanda Achtman, founder of Dying To Meet You, a civic euthanasia prevention initiative.
The issue is of great relevance: euthanasia is the fifth most common cause of death in Canada; and in some countries it has been imposed, despite the opposition of the legislative power, through judicial activism.
Colombia was the first country in the world where euthanasia was decriminalized by a ruling of the Constitutional Court in 1997. And the most recent is Ecuador, by the same means.
Through the highest courts in some countries, assisted suicide has also been allowed, a practice in which the active role is played by the patient or the person suffering, and not by medical personnel, as in euthanasia.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada authorized assisted suicide, paving the way for the approval in 2016 of a euthanasia law.
In addition to Colombia, Canada and Ecuador, euthanasia is permitted through law in some states of Australia (2019), the Netherlands and Belgium (2002); Luxembourg (2009), New Zealand and Spain (2021); Cuba and Portugal (2023). In total 11 countries.
Assisted suicide is legal in 16: all of the above plus Switzerland (1941), 11 states of the American Union (since 1997), Italy (2019), Germany (2020) and Austria (2022).
In most of these countries, euthanasia has advanced as an act of compassion. But is it really? What happens when the State abdicates its responsibility to protect life and offers death as a solution instead? The most fragile – the elderly, the sick, the disabled – risk being considered a disposable burden instead of being cared for and accompanied.
The case of Canada is significant: since 2024, euthanasia can be applied to people with mental illness.
The May Transatlantic Dialogue will be held at the following times, depending on the region you are in:
- 07:00 US-Pacific
08:00 US-Mountain, Mexico City, Guatemala, San Salvador
09:00 US-Central, Bogota, Lima, Panama
10:00 US-EST, Santiago, Santo Domingo
11:00 Asuncion, Brasília, Buenos Aires, Montevideo
16:00 CET, Brussels, Paris, Budapest, Madrid, Maputo, Rome, Warsaw
17:00 Finland, Kampala, Nairobi, Cairo
To participate please contact: [email protected]
