“Aid in dying”: UN Launches Official Proceedings Against France

These proceedings are the direct result of a petition by the ECLJ, addressed to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and signed by nearly 15,000 French citizens. The ECLJ sent this petition in early April 2025. The ECLJ was then heard by the Committee on May 6 and submitted a brief on May 30 demonstrating that the proposed law on the right to aid in dying violates the rights of persons with disabilities.

On June 23, in a letter addressed to France, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stated that it had “received credible information indicating that if the above-mentioned piece of legislation is approved, it would result in an infringement of the duty of the State party to respect, protect and guarantee the right to life of persons with disabilities.” With this letter, the Committee initiated an investigation requiring France to provide further information on the proposed law on the right to aid in dying.

The UN worries that the “proposed eligibility criteria . . . appear to be based in ableist perceptions of the quality and value of the life of persons with disabilities.” In fact, under the proposed law, while a person with a disability who is suffering may be eligible for aid in dying, an able-bodied person who is suffering is not. This corresponds to what the Committee calls “ableist.” The UN is also concerned about the lack of “alternatives to assistance to dying,” the creation of a new felony of obstructing an assisted-suicide, and the minimum mandatory cooling-off period of only two days before euthanasia or “suicide” can be performed.

At the same time, in its letter to the French government, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities called on civil society organizations to send “information to the above-referred questions”. We have done so. On August 1, the ECLJ sent the Committee a written memorandum explaining how the Government has actively supported euthanasia for persons with disabilities and responding point by point to the questions raised by the Committee.

One of the points raised concerns persons subject to legal protection measures, in particular persons under guardianship. Basing the decision to euthanize purely on their expressed desire to do so is particularly shocking, given that they are considered incapable of looking after their own interests in other decisions, however serious or even trivial.

We also encouraged our partners to send their memorandums, a request that was favorably received by Claire Fourcade, on behalf of the French Society for Accompaniment and Palliative Care (SFAP), and Louis Bouffard, on behalf of the group “Les Éligibles.” (“those who qualify to be euthanized”)

We have also explained in the French and foreign media, as well as in the European Parliament, that the proposed law on euthanasia violates the rights of persons with disabilities.

The French government's response to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will be examined during its session between August 11 and 29 in Geneva. We do not yet know its content. This UN session is a new step in these proceedings.

This Committee has already acted on the basis of this international treaty in previous proceedings. In April 2025, it asked Canada to review its legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities. It was also this Committee that asked France not to euthanize Vincent Lambert in 2019, as the Committee believed that he had been deprived of food and water because of his disability.

It's critical to support our campaign by signing and encouraging others to sign our petition, so that tens of thousands of us can show our support. We will send it to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to urge it to remind France of its international obligations and to initiate an investigation into the respect of the rights of persons with disabilities in countries that have legalized euthanasia.