instruction:
Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.
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The Paris unity march shows we must protect freedom of expression, not curtail it further. I was just one Australian face in a human sea of more than one and half million Parisians yesterday . I was trying to comprehend what I was a part of when the placard thrust in front of my eyes made it clear : "La liberte d'expression n'a pas de religion"- freedom of expression has no religion . This was a rally to defend the essential global human right to free expression . A right that should not be bound by religious, cultural or political strictures . We were marching to remember the victims of the Charlie Hebdo newsroom massacre and the Kosher grocery store siege . We were marching in sympathy with those in mourning who joined us . We were marching in defiance, determined to rise above the fear and chaos the terrorists inflicted on our city . But ,  overwhelmingly, we marched to defend our right to freely express our views . The main march stretched three kilometres between Place de la Republique and Place de la Nation, tracking down Boulevard Voltaire . When I cried "Je suis Charlie, nous somme Charlie!", it was in the spirit of the French philosopher Voltaire's revolutionary words:"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." The props of the rally - giant pencils supporting the French flag, a flood of demonstrators holding pens aloft and bibs emblazoned with the faces of the massacred Charlie Hebdo staff - told the story . Paris has been my home for a year . I am a research fellow with the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers which is based in the city . It's a long way from the University of Wollongong in Australia , where I am on staff as a journalism academic . But the principle of freedom of expression we were marching to defend binds journalists, writers and artists, and by extension all citizens, globally . It transcends national borders, distance, culture, language, class and religion . That's why, as we marched, we saw Paris residents hanging models of pencils and banners carrying free speech slogans from their balconies . And it's why we paused to listen while a little African girl bellowed "Je suis Charlie!" from a third story window at her mother's side . We were a calm sea of over 1.5 million people pouring through the grand boulevards of central Paris . Led by the families of those killed and over 40 world leaders who walked with linked arms, it was a significant moment in history, a moment triggered by outrage at the act of terrorists who massacred journalists and cartoonists in the middle of a weekly editorial meeting and ordinary citizens doing their shopping . It was also a moment fuelled by a collective determination to display unity and defiance in the face of terror and fear . The attack on Charlie Hebdo and the climate of fear and anxiety it created are, sadly, regular occurrences in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Mexico, where journalists are frequent targets . The western media too often turns a blind eye to the murder of journalists elsewhere . The Paris unity march represents a watershed moment in the struggle to protect journalists and defend freedom of expression globally . Kalashnikov-wielding terrorists took the fight into the heart of a newsroom in one of western Europe's biggest cities . If that doesn't wake up complacent democracies to the need to vigorously defend the right to report , nothing will . Once the news cycle moves on from Paris and the cries of "Je suis Charlie" fade, we must harness the levels of public support and political will to enact significant and lasting change globally . We must be on guard against the already audible attempts to justify a further curtailment of media and internet freedoms in the interests of national security in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks . The threats posed to investigative journalism by mass surveillance, data retention and the criminalisation of reporting certain information under anti-terrorism legislation are already significant . Especially in Australia . It would be an enormous tragedy if the lasting legacy of the Charlie Hebdo massacre was ultimately a further undermining of privacy and freedom of expression rights . Let us honour the victims and survivors of the Paris terrorist attacks by finding a sustainable balance between the need for anti- terrorism measures against our collective human right to freely express our views . As the murdered editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, Stephane Charbonnier, told Le Monde in 2011:"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees."
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A right that should not be bound by religious, cultural or political strictures


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When should voluntary euthanasia not be an option? This week a court in Belgium announced that the convicted rapist and murderer Frank Van Den Bleeken would be put to death by a lethal injection, in spite of the fact that the death penalty is banned across Europe . Van Den Bleeken's case was unusual : having previously been declared insane and not criminally responsible, he had himself asked to be euthanised on the grounds that he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in jail . Today the Belgian justice minister announced that Van Den Bleeken would not be euthanised after all, amid reports that the prisoner had changed his mind . Nonetheless ,  the case provides a fascinating twist to the old debate about euthanasia . Should Van Den Bleeken have been allowed to die? The moral defence of voluntary euthanasia is usually applied to people suffering from a terminal illness . But Van Den Bleeken isn't terminally ill and isn't in physical pain . Another traditional requirement is that the wish to die should be voluntary and competent . But how can the choices of someone who has been declared insane be regarded as voluntary and competent? The concern is that granting his request would make it a case of involuntary euthanasia , and that is usually seen as morally unacceptable . If there is an issue about Van Bleeken's sanity that is because of his alleged inability to control his sexual impulses . But it could be argued that this doesn't affect the validity of his request to be euthanised . The implication is that while some of his decisions might be involuntary or incompetent, this doesn't apply to his choice of death over a lifetime behind bars . Even so , should his request have been granted, given that he isn't terminally ill? One argument for allowing voluntary euthanasia where terminal illness isn't an issue turns on the idea of wellbeing : people should be allowed to choose death where they would literally be better off dead or where their life literally isn't worth living . Another argument turns on human autonomy : we should respect a person's free choices as long as they don't harm anyone else . Someone who is not terminally ill could still satisfy these requirements . Had Van Den Bleeken been allowed to die, critics may say it would have risked opening the floodgates for other similar cases . Belgium has seen a dramatic rise in euthanasia since the practice was legalised in 2002 and permitted in cases of pain and psychological distress, as well as terminal illness . Some are opposed to voluntary euthanasia as a matter of principle . The philosopher David Velleman argues that there isn't a fundamental right to choose between life and death, and that a person's rights don't expand when they become terminally ill or psychologically distressed . He is heavily influenced by 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant . According to Kant, morality requires that we respect the dignity of persons, and the dignity of persons makes them intrinsically valuable . For Kant, a person's dignity can't be traded against their wellbeing or happiness , and the fact that a person believes that their life isn't worth living doesn't make it acceptable for them to be euthanised . The Van Den Bleeken case puts pressure on these standard arguments for and against voluntary euthanasia . Suppose that, contrary to Kant's view, voluntary euthanasia is morally permissible as long as the person asking to be euthanised would be genuinely better off dead . Relatives of Van Den Bleeken's victim may well argue that the fact(if it is a fact) that he would be better off dead is precisely a reason for not allowing him to be put to death . From this perspective, euthanasia looks like a way for him to circumvent his sentence . Van Den Bleeken's victim was Christiane Remacle, a 19-year-old he raped and strangled in 1989 . Her sisters are reported to have said that Van Den Bleeken should be forced to languish in jail , and their reaction brings out an ambivalence in how we think about the death penalty for murder . Relatives of murder victims often demand the death penalty as the ultimate punishment , but the Van Den Bleeken case suggests that, at least from the standpoint of the perpetrator, the ultimate sanction may be life behind bars . But the intrinsic value argument against voluntary euthanasia can also be hard to swallow, in this case . Christiane Remacle's sisters might balk at the idea that a murderer's life is intrinsically valuable . It's hard not to sympathise , and there remain strong reasons for not allowing Van Den Bleeken to be euthanised regardless of whether his life is intrinsically valuable . As long as euthanasia is seen as a way for him to circumvent his sentence, respect for his victim and her family demands that he isn't given the option .
answer:
One argument for allowing voluntary euthanasia where terminal illness isn't an issue turns on the idea of wellbeing Some are opposed to voluntary euthanasia as a matter of principle


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The rights of sex workers. In a case brought by three sex workers, the Supreme Court of Canada, in December 2013, struck down three provisions of the Canadian prostitution law , because they violated sex workers' human and "constitutional right to security of the person" by imposing "dangerous conditions on prostitution" . In June 2014, the Canadian government introduced a new prostitution law, Bill C-36 "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act", which entered into force on December 5 . While the Supreme Court had created the space for a radical change in the approach to sex work by reaffirming that human and constitutional rights apply to sex workers too , democratic procedures in Canada seem to have failed sex workers . The Canadian Pivot Legal Society argues that Bill C-36 has been "consistently misrepresented" and that it "will result in sweeping criminalisation of the sex industry", including sex workers themselves . Others have called it a "hate law" , because the safety and security of sex workers was, in fact, not the priority for some who voted for the Bill C-36 . One of the Senators, Donald Plett, clearly stated his priority in this regard:"We don't want to make life safe for prostitutes; we want to do away with prostitution." Canada is not the only state that has passed questionable legislation on sex work . ".[S]tates frequently deny sex workers the same human and legislative rights and protections afforded to other workers and citizens," says sex work researcher Jay Levy . The question is: How do human rights apply to sex workers and what laws and policies should states make? How should sex work laws look like, if human rights are to be respected to the fullest extent? The answer to these questions is controversial - both philosophically and politically . In the past year, numerous countries have put sex work policies on their political agenda - for different reasons and with different goals and outcomes . There are numerous examples worldwide, where the courts have upheld sex workers' human rights and questioned existing prostitution laws or filled legal grey areas . In New Zealand, where sex work is decriminalised, a sex worker won a case for sexual harassment against a brothel owner . In New York, 1,900 strip club dancers won a labour rights case against their employer , who will have to pay them at least $10m in compensation . Recently an Austrian court has ruled that the cost of forced health checks imposed on sex workers had to be reimbursed . Both in Germany and in Austria, court rulings abolished to notion of prostitution as being "immoral" , thus opening up the space for legal reform and the recognition of sex work as work . The European Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled that "prostitution" is an "economic activity" and that within the European Union member states cannot restrict "freedom of movement", not even for sex workers . While court rulings are useful and necessary in reminding us that sex workers have rights too , relying solely on courts to read human rights into existing legislation cannot be the sole answer to injustices that sex workers face . Democracies need to step in to make laws that actually improve sex workers' lives - a goal that has proven difficult to reach . Historically marginalised and stigmatised, sex workers have a hard time in pushing for a reform of prostitution laws . Most politicians, especially if male and heterosexual, do not wish to be associated with sex work . Prejudices and lack of knowledge about the topic as well as the unwillingness to engage with sex workers themselves have proven to be hard obstacles to surmount . Often, sex workers are heard in consultation processes , but their views and political claims aren't always taken seriously . By contrast, anti-prostitution activists calling for a world without prostitution have been far more successful in their lobbying efforts against sex work . They also explicitly distance themselves from self-identified sex workers , who they often accuse of being nothing but criminals . Using the stigma of sex work , anti-prostitution activists have managed to ally themselves with mostly sexually and socially conservative groups in their call for the suppression of sex work . By using slogans like"end demand" or "abolish prostitution now", they have been calling for the so-called "Swedish Model", in which the act of selling sex is formally decriminalised, while clients are charged with a monetary fine . By increasing the cost of a sexual transaction, the law should work as a deterrent . A variation of the law has been implemented in other small countries, such as Norway, Iceland, and, most recently, Northern Ireland . Supporters of this approach claim that only this particular law will reduce human trafficking as well as prostitution . However ,  the Swedish approach comes with many flaws and open questions . Because its goal is a society without sex workers , the law does not intend to provide any guidance on the laws we need in a society with sex workers . Norway is considering repealing the law , as the evaluation of the law has not been able to prove its success . While the EUROSTAT report on human trafficking does not point to a decrease in human trafficking in Sweden , sex workers' working conditions have worsened . In fact ,  the "Swedish Approach" criminalises any attempt to create safe working environments for sex workers , as anyone renting indoor space to sex workers can be charged with "pimping" . Ironically, this provision has not reduced pimping, but induced many landlords to put sex workers on the streets in order to avoid a fine for "pimping", as the so-called "Operation homeless" has shown in Norway . Furthermore ,  Sweden does not allow immigration for the purposes of prostitution and has been deporting migrant sex workers , who are still seen a problem of public order and security . It wasn't until 2011 that a Swedish Court ruled that deporting citizens of the European Union selling sex in Sweden was illegal . Last but not least, even Sweden and Norway tax income from sex work, while refusing to recognise it as labour . As empirical studies on the implementation of the "Swedish approach" show, its weaknesses in guaranteeing sex workers' human rights, policy-makers also have become sceptical . A Special Committee of French Senate excluded the provision criminalising clients from the proposed new prostitution law in summer 2014 - based on the recommendations of the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights . So far, it is unclear whether France will go forward with the law at all . Britain has also excluded the provision criminalising the purchase of sex from its "Modern Slavery Bill" , which has itself been criticised by NGOs for not doing justice to victims of human trafficking . Germany is also working to reform its prostitution law . The Global Network of Sex Work Projects advocates "decriminalisation" of sex work . So far , only New Zealand has chosen "decriminalisation" as sex work policy , but maybe India will be next . India's chair of the National Commission of Women, Lalitha Kumaramangalam, recently stated that the "Immoral Traffic Prevention Act" should be revised in order to create"conditions conductive for sex workers to live with dignity" . In fact ,  the existing law casts sex workers simultaneously as dangerous to society and as victims to be forcefully protected from their own choices . Either way, they are not recognised as equal citizens, workers, and members of a social and political community with human rights . By decriminalising sex work, India would set an example for other countries, too . As a law practitioner recently pointed out that "the position of defining prostitution itself as inherently exploitative and a form of violence against women does not allow people in prostitution to access their right to earn a livelihood through sex work." It is time for democracies to include sex workers in policy-making processes and take them seriously - not just because democratic values mandate it, but because sex workers are the experts on the matter .
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In a case brought by three sex workers, the Supreme Court of Canada, in December 2013, struck down three provisions of the Canadian prostitution law