Petition addressed to:
The European Commission, The European Ombudsman, European Parliament's Committee on Petitions
This petition is intended for the European citizens who recognize two basic facts as axiomatic:
1) a scientific fact that vaccination is generally an effective way to prevent infectious diseases,
2) a social and legal fact that human dignity and civil liberties should be duly protected during a health crisis by the domestic and European legislation.
Its primary objective is to uphold only voluntary COVID-19 vaccination for the general public in the European Union in accordance with the "Resolution 2361 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe" and "The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union", but also to prevent any form of discrimination associated with prevention or treatment of COVID-19.
A secondary objective is to ensure respect for human dignity in the process of implementation of a more coercive vaccination policy, if it becomes inevitable.
Reason
Since early 2020 Europe is facing a serious pandemic. Nonetheless, the crisis is associated with grave threats to human rights and civil liberties.
The governments issue more and more unusual legal provisions intended to halt the spread of a novel virus and its variants. This situation cannot be continuously justified as a temporary inconvenience, because the harsh restrictions were introduced as early as in March 2020. They include controversial measures similar to prolonged states of emergencies, full national lockdowns, digital surveillance of the population, bans on gatherings, intrusion into private and family life, and recent suggestions to bluntly discriminate the unvaccinated citizens or to impose mandatory vaccination on them.
It is striking, because the first common European legal document concerning the matter at hand was a Resolution 2361 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: "Covid-19 vaccines: ethical, legal and practical considerations". It rightly "urges member States and the European Union to: (...) ensure that citizens are informed that the vaccination is not mandatory and that no one is under political, social or other pressure to be vaccinated if they do not wish to do so; (...) ensure that no one is discriminated against for not having been vaccinated, due to possible health risks or not wanting to be vaccinated".
A recent announcement made by the President of the European Commission, Ms Ursula van der Leyen, and political decisions of many member states - e.g. Germany or Austria - indicate that the governments are not respecting above mentioned Resolution at all. What is more, many of the restrictions are an example of a slippery slope. One scientific discovery or restriction does not prevent more restrictions from being implemented, but only leads to implementation of newer and harsher limitations.
According to The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, such principles as "Human dignity" (article 1), "Right to the integrity of the person" (article 3), "Freedom of assembly and of association" (article 12) , "Freedom of movement and of residence" (article 45) should be fully recognised by all the member states. Yet, the governments try to simply force vaccination on their citizens by administratively banning them from access to some public spaces and commercial services. This can no longer be justified on legal or ethical grounds, as there is no apparent end to all the Machiavellian policies.
European institutions (e.g. European Comission, European Ombudsman, and the European Parliament) should not encourage its member states to violate the basic rights of their citizens further, but rather to oversee whether the limitations are implemented in accordance with human dignity, privacy and other basic human rights.
Sources:
1) https://pace.coe.int/pdf/74f621f624d2bf8b0c7ff4c269f1a8d493c90dcce035b1fc030b116275eab9a2/resolution%202361.pdf
2) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT&from=EN