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Human Rights and Cultural Diversity in UNESCO Bioethics

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Religious Perspectives on Bioethics and Human Rights

Part of the book series: Advancing Global Bioethics ((AGBIO,volume 6))

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Abstract

In October 2005 UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (Declaration or UDB) by acclamation. It purports to “enshrine bioethics in human rights” and ensure “respect for the life of human beings”, so that “human beings everywhere can benefit from the advances of science and technology within the framework of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” In this Article, after an introduction to the general critique of the Declaration, I provide a brief theoretical taxonomy of the various normative systems that constitute international order and then use this hierarchical image to critique the Declaration’s attempt to ground itself in “human rights.” I include the ethical institution of science as one of the normative systems, as bioethics is pendent on science for its meanings. I then focus on the Declaration’s Article 12, which purports to protect “cultural diversity.” I demonstrate that it is incoherent as a norm, and that its incoherence reflects the background normative incoherence of the Declaration as a whole. I conclude with some concrete suggestions for subsequent iterations of international bioethical norms, including grounding them in specific human rights norms (rather than in “human rights” in general).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Koïchiro Matsuura, Forward, UNESCO Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2005), hereinafter “UDB.”

  2. 2.

    Willem Landman & Udo Schuklenk, UNESCO “declares” universals on bioethics and human rights - many universal truths unearther by UN body, 5 Developing World Bioethics iii(2005). Their view of the UN and its agencies is naïve.

  3. 3.

    See e.g., Matti Hayry & Tuija Takala, Human Dignity, Bioethics, and Human Rights, see id. at;Mary C. Rawlinson & Anne Donchin, The Quest for Universality: Reflections on the Universal Draft Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 258;John R. Williams, UNESCO’’s Proposed Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights - A Bland Compromise, see id. at 210.

  4. 4.

    Cheryl Cox Macpherson, Global bioethics: did the universal declaration on bioethics and human rights miss the boat?, 33 Journal of Medical Ethics 588(2007);Harald Schmidt, Whose Dignity? Resolving Ambiguities in the Scope of “Human Dignity” in the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 578;Roberto Andorno, Global bioethics at UNESCO: in defence of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 150.

  5. 5.

    Griffin Trotter, The UNESCO Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights: A Canon for the Ages?, 34 Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 195, 195 (2009).

  6. 6.

    Roberto Andorno, Human Dignity and Human Rights as a Common Ground for Global Bioethics, see id. at 223;Mark J. Cherry, UNESCO, “Universal Bioethics,” and State Regulation of Health Risks: A Philosophical Critique, see id. at 274;Thomas Alured Faunce & Hitoshi Nasu, Normative Foundations of Technology Transfer and Transnational Benefit Principles in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 296;Darryl Gunson, Solidarity and the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 241;Loretta M. Kopelman, Bioethics as Public Discourse and Second-Order Discipline, see id. at 261;O. Carter Snead, Bioethics and Self-Governance: The Lessons of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, see id. at 204.

  7. 7.

    See e.g., Adele Langlois, The Global Governance of Bioethics: Negotiating UNESCO’’s Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, 5 Global Health Governance 1(2011).

  8. 8.

    See Andorno, Global bioethics at UNESCO: in defence of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights;Faunce & Nasu.

  9. 9.

    Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 2008. Between universalism and relativism: A critique of the UNESCO concepts of culture. In Culture and rights: Anthropological perspectives, ed. Jane Cowan et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1.

  10. 10.

    Kopelman, 263.

  11. 11.

    Andorno, Global bioethics at UNESCO: in defence of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.

  12. 12.

    UNESCO Basic Documents: General introduction to the standard-setting instruments of UNESCO

  13. 13.

    Aristotle, The Politics of Aristotle (Ernest Barker trans., Clarendon Press 1946). 1253a19-28.

  14. 14.

    It also refers to a great many different hard and soft treaty regimes, and third and fourth generation rights. See e.g., Burns H. Weston, Human Rights, 6 Human Rights Quarterly 257(1984). See generally, Philip Alston & Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights (Oxford University Press. 2013).

  15. 15.

    James Q. Whitman, The Two Western Cultures of Privacy: Dignity versus Liberty, 113 Yale Law Journal 1151(2004).

  16. 16.

    Christina Hill, et al., Guide to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (Oxfam Australia 2010).

  17. 17.

    Id. at, 1.

  18. 18.

    Brian Leiter, Rethinking Legal Realism: Towards a Naturalized Jurisprudence, 76 Texas Law Review 267(1997).

  19. 19.

    For a fuller description, see Thomas Nagel, Mind & Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False (Oxford University Press. 2012).

  20. 20.

    M. Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945–1954 (1998);David J. Rothman, Strangers at the Bedside: A History of How Law and Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making (Basic Books. 1991).

  21. 21.

    See e.g., National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, The Belmont Report: Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. 1979). (including Appendices); Rothman.

  22. 22.

    National Research Act. PL 93–348 (HR 7724), 93rd Congress. (1974). 4 CFR 46 (1981–2009).

  23. 23.

    I read the other four aims to gloss these main aims.

  24. 24.

    There is no space in this paper to provide a thorough history either of the conflict underlying Article 12, nor of the UDB itself. Here I refer only to enough documents to identify the problem.

  25. 25.

    UNESCO, First Intergovernmental Meeting of Experts Aimed at Finalizing a Draft Declaration on Universal Norms on Bioethics, EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM ON THE ELABORATION OF THE PRELIMINARY DRAFT DECLARATION ON UNIVERSAL NORMS ON BIOETHICS, SHS/EST/05/CONF.203/4, Paris, 21 February 2005.

  26. 26.

    UNESCO, Second session of the intergovernmental meeting of experts aimed at finalizing a draft of a declaration on universal norms on bioethics, AGENDA, SHS/EST/05/CONF.204/1, Paris, 4 May 2005.

  27. 27.

    Christina Hill, et al., Guide to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (Oxfam Australia 2010), p. 12.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Law & Policy Institute, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX, USA

    John Lunstroth

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Correspondence to John Lunstroth .

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  1. Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, Rome, Italy

    Joseph Tham

  2. Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Kai Man Kwan

  3. Bioethics and Human Rights, UNESCO, Rome, Italy

    Alberto Garcia

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Lunstroth, J. (2017). Human Rights and Cultural Diversity in UNESCO Bioethics. In: Tham, J., Kwan, K., Garcia, A. (eds) Religious Perspectives on Bioethics and Human Rights. Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58431-7_2

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