Assisted dying Bill 'violates UN rights of disabled people'

DISABLED people are to argue the Westminster assisted dying Bill violates their rights under a United Nations convention, claiming they have been ignored in the debate.

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The move is being backed by campaign groups including Disabled People Against Cuts, Disability Rights UK and Not Dead Yet UK as the legislation returns to Parliament for debate.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which relates to England and Wales, will come before MPs in the House of Commons tomorrow for its report stage where further amendments will be debated and voted on.

Nicki Myers, 52 and living in Cambridge, is making a complaint alongside Essex-based Nicola Waters, 51, calling on the United Nations to declare that the passage of assisted dying legislation violates the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD).

Ms Myers has pulmonary fibrosis but said despite being 99% bedbound, she lives life to the full with support from her local hospice.

She said she was given five years to live seven years ago.