September 28, 2025
Dutch Appeal for End of Life Rights to be Heard in the Hague
On Monday 6 October, the Dutch Appeals Court in the Hague will hear the appeal of CLW (Last Will Cooperation) to the Dutch state’s refusal to recognise end of life self-determination for elderly people who are not sick and who do not qualify for existing Dutch euthanasia law.
This appeal follows the rulings of the Germany and Austrian constitutional courts who ruled back in 2020 that self determination at the end of life is a fundamental human right that the state should not interfere with.
Now it is the turn of the Netherlands.
CLW describe the appeal as follows:
Coöperatie Laatste Wil (CLW) and 29 co-plaintiffs sued the State in 2021.
Their central question: can the government deny citizens the right to a dignified and self-chosen end of life?
The court ruled against CLW in December 2022, but the appeal will be heard on 6 October 2025.
This is the moment to make it clear once again that the ban on assisted suicide leads to unnecessary suffering and that society broadly supports change.
This case shows how far the end of life choices debate has come over the past quarter of a century in the Netherlands.
To suggest that a good death is everybody’s right is for some countries a radical idea.
For example, in most countries (eg. Australia, Canada, the US), only the sickest of the sick have the right to beg for help to die.
But not in the Netherlands, where there is majority support for all rational adults over a certain age to have access to lethal drugs.
This makes a radical departure from the medical model of assisted dying which privileges illness over human rights.
Exit fully supports the CLW appeal.
Exit is one of the co-sponsors of a full page advertisement that will appear in Dutch media next week.
Philip Nitschke will be attending the Hague on 6 October where he will join other activists in laying a wreath: an innovative way of demanding action.
Watch this space!
In August 2025, Exit International and CLW signed a new MOU (memorandum of understanding) which is intended to coordinate the activities of the two organisations which are both focused on practical end of life options.