Conference on the recognition and guarantee of the right to euthanasia was co-organised on Friday by the Human Rights Committee of the Cyprus Bar Association and the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities for Men and Women, under the auspices of the House of Representatives.
In her address before the opening of the conference, Speaker of the Parliament Anita Demetriou pointed out the many and unresolved moral issues, as well as the difficult legal questions that every modern society is called upon to answer in relation to the issue of the time and manner of the end of the biological existence of the terminally ill patient who wishes to have a dignified death.
"Cyprus, like any modern society that listens to the demands of its citizens and is sensitive to human rights issues, has thus suffered the passage of time, to delve into the largely controversial issue of the right to death and through public debate to come to a definitive and irrevocable conclusion whether such a right worthy of protection exists or whether the recognition of such a right ultimately counteracts the right to life itself, which every state has an institutional duty to guarantee and protect," he said.
Ms. Demetriou also expressed her satisfaction for the presence at the conference of all parties involved in this multi-level issue, both from the legal and the wider medical world, as well as from the church and representatives of organised patients, "because it is imperative that the positions of all be recorded, so that it can be definitively decided whether the society of Cyprus is ready to proceed decisively to the next step and whether there is indeed an urgent social need to regulate the issue, always in accordance with the established jurisprudential principles of the ECHR".
The Chairperson of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee, Irene Charalambidou, said that the Committee started the debate on 24 January this year, with the planning to provide for a comprehensive consultation and submission of views by organised groups at the second relevant meeting to be held after Easter, when the report of the National Bioethics Committee of Cyprus will be completed.
"We have found that in those countries where euthanasia has been incorporated into national law and physician-assisted suicide, it is governed by a particularly strict legal framework, with provisions to ensure that there are no abusive practices. I personally believe that we as a state must recognise this right of choice," Charalambidou noted, adding that "the initiative to open the chapter of euthanasia has been accepted with a positive reaction from society, it is a tragic event, but it is a tragic event that we must manage at some point."
"I recall that it is a statutory right of the patient to refuse treatment when informed of a terminal illness with a specific terminal course. The doctor's responsibility is limited to adequately informing the patient about existing treatments," he added.
"Why not give the patient the right to choose how to leave if the outcome is confirmed, within a strict legal framework, with all the safeguards adopted and applied in other European countries? The decision belongs to the one who suffers and on this road the patients walk alone and that is why they have the right to choose, the only thing the state is required to do is to give them the choice through the right institutional framework," Ms. Charalambidou concluded.
The President of the Pancyprian Bar Association Christos Clerides said that the aim of the conference wasto start reflection both in society and within the Association, since its members have not made any decision on the issue so far.
Noting that in some countries, such as Italy, a referendum on euthanasia issues was banned, Mr. Clerides said that he looks forward to the findings of the Cyprus inquiry, while he was against referendums as "they tend to popularise serious scientific issues and therefore the right decisions should be taken with the guidance of experts".
Furthermore, he expressed the Association's readiness to provide legal assistance in drafting the proposed law, "as if there is a legislative framework it should be compatible with the provisions of the Convention and human rights protection in order to avoid any abuses."
"I think the state if it considers that there is a social need will not hesitate to proceed."
"I think the state if it considers that there is a social need will not hesitate to proceed. I hope and pray that this session will contribute towards proper reflection. Somewhere I have a feeling that at present the state may not be ready to go ahead and so if anything is to be done it will have to be done by way of a bill, not being the first time that the state, when a bill is tabled, adopts it, works on it and refines it," he added in this regard.
The Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the IDA Costas Paraskevas stood on the decisions of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights on the issue of euthanasia, in which the court confirmed the position that the right of an individual to decide by what means and at what point to end his life, provided that he is able to decide freely on this matter and to act accordingly, is one of the aspects of the right to respect for private life.
"The public debate shows how difficult it is to reconcile the two fundamental principles of the protection of human life and the autonomy and self-determination of the individual. According to the Strasbourg case law, it is up to the Member States, through their legislation, to decide whether euthanasia will be allowed in their legal orders." Paraskevas, adding that the ECtHR has concluded that in striking a balance, member states enjoy a wide margin of appreciation between the individual's right to respect for his autonomy and dignity and the need to guarantee the protection of the life of vulnerable persons, with the court nevertheless retaining the power to verify whether the state has complied with its obligations.
"Despite the inherent difficulties, the public debate in Cyprus on the issue of euthanasia is ongoing. The point is that if our country chooses to legislate on the issue of euthanasia, then it should move within the foreseen margin of appreciation and come up with a clear and comprehensive legislative framework on euthanasia in full compliance with the requirements of articles 2 and 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights," Parkevas concluded.
Finally, in her speech, Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights Maria Stylianou-Lottidi stressed that the right to life and health as an individual right is constitutionally enshrined as the supreme good, which demands from the state absolute protection both by avoiding acts that may harm it and by the positive obligation to take action to protect it.
"In any case, a prerequisite for the application of any form of euthanasia should be the full, valid and timely information of the patient so that the patient's will can be expressed without doubt," he stressed on the issue of euthanasia.
"The newly established right to death as an individual right has not yet been legally established. The criminality of euthanasia is judged according to the general rules of criminal law relating to offences against the person," he added, adding that the Cypriot legal order lacks regulations that refer to and regulate the rights of patients with incurable diseases or who are in the final stage of their illness, the conditions for requesting the termination of life and the corresponding obligations of medical and nursing staff.
The answer lies only in the person who is painfully heading towards death and is certainly not always the same," the Commissioner concluded.
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