Global euthanasia plan

 In his visit to once-Christian France, Pope Leo XIV condemned assisted suicide as “false compassion,” as countries around the world debate and pass laws allowing the elimination of its older citizens at the hands of doctors. The United Nations is now venturing into this debate with an agenda to create a legally binding treaty to establish and enforce the rights of the world’s elderly populations, the unsuspecting and vulnerable in our society.

The U.N. has established the “Intergovernmental Working Group on the Human Rights of Older Persons” (IGWG) to develop and discuss a treaty that would, among other things, shield government-sanctioned euthanasia programs.

France recently legalized euthanasia, and has been heavily criticized for not adopting sufficient safeguards for disabled, elderly, or mentally impaired individuals. The European Centre for Law & Justice, which took legal action to prevent France’s law from taking effect, said the Act creates a right to die, and thus also, a license to kill. The Labor government in the United Kingdom tried to pass a euthanasia law last year, but it failed last month after disability advocates raised concerns.

The “death with dignity” campaign is targeting the global aging population, suggesting that taking one’s life is a dignified option and a way not to burden families. Some countries are simply looking for options to rid the state of the costly care for the elderly.

European Union-backed groups have promoted an international right to assisted suicide and government-sanctioned euthanasia programs.

In the Working Group’s first session held in July, a representative from the Centre for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (CHRUSP) suggested that the new treaty must guard against risks of institutionalization, a family member making substitute decisions, involuntary medications with psychiatric drugs, or involuntary treatment “alleged to be in our best interests,” and ageism.

Does this include governments forcing physicians to help take the life of the elderly?

Countries where euthanasia is already legal, including Canada, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, are increasingly coming under fire for allowing assisted suicide for children as well as the elderly and disabled persons. Persons only diagnosed with depression are opting for death.

Canada originally passed its “Medical Aid in Dying” (MAID) law in 2016. In 2024, MAID accounted for 5.1% of all deaths in Canada with 16,499 reported cases. In 2021, 2.2% of the total number receiving assistance in dying were individuals “whose natural deaths were not reasonably forseeable.”

In Belgium, for example, minors can request voluntary euthanasia under certain conditions as long as they have the “capacity for discernment“ and do so while being conscious.

In the first IGWG session, most government representatives focused on protections against discrimination and neglect. Non-governmental groups funded by the European Union, like the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) Network, called for the treaty to include “the right to die with dignity.” They also said the treaty should include an “intersectional approach” and protect obligations related to “sexual and reproductive rights,” as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion. Why are seniors concerned about reproductive rights?

The World Health Organization does not oppose assisted suicide, but rather promotes euphemistic “death with dignity” plans. Even though it is the same term used by euthanasia advocates, WHO says “death with dignity” refers to palliative care to help manage pain in all contexts regardless of the legal status of euthanasia.

Some disability rights groups are not focused on the dangers of including ambiguous “death with dignity” provisions in the new treaty.

“Where medical assistance in dying exists, eligibility must rest on the fact that the person is dying, never on disability or old age,” said Inclusion Canada, a human rights group for the disabled.

The new treaty has been discussed as a possibility for close to two decades, and the IGWG is scheduled to have its next session in Geneva in October 2026, with a zero draft anticipated in November 2027.

Let’s hope the IGWG follows the adage displayed on their website and honors the true dignity of the elderly: “No society can or should ignore the wisdom, creativity and experience that older people bring. Older people must be better protected for the unique human rights challenges they face.”

Stefano Gennarini is the Vice President for Legal Studies at the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) a research institute dedicated to protecting national sovereignty and the dignity of the human person at the UN.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/10/global-euthanasia-plan/