8th Cambridge Consortium of Bioethics Education, Paris, France, 04 July 2018 - 06 February 2020, pp.1
8th
Cambridge Consortium of Bioethics Education
Paris,
4-6 July 2018
Abstract
for poster presentation
The Oviedo Convention celebrates its 20th Anniversary,
An Ethically and
Legally Binding Source on Human Rights and Biomedicine
Yesim
Isil Ulman*
This poster aims to
explore the Conference, organized by the Council of Europe Bioethics Committee on
the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Oviedo Convention. The Oviedo
Convention was produced for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human
Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine. It had been
opened for signature on 4 April 1997 in Oviedo (Spain). This Convention is the
only international legally binding instrument on the protection of human rights
in the biomedical field. It draws on the principles established by the European
Convention on Human Rights, in the field of biology and medicine. It is a
framework Convention aiming at protecting dignity and identity of all human
beings and guarantee everyone, without discrimination, respect for their
integrity and other rights and fundamental freedoms with regard to the
application of biology and medicine. It set out fundamental principles
applicable to daily medical practice and is regarded as such at the European
treaty on patient’s rights. It also deals specifically with biomedical
research, genetics and transplantation of organ and tissues. The provisions of
the Convention are further elaborated and complemented by Additional Protocols
on specific subjects.
The objective of
this international Conference, organised on 24-25 October 2017, was to
examine the relevance of the principles laid down in the Oviedo Convention with
regard to developments in the biomedical field and possible human rights
challenges raised by such developments.
The report, prepared
by the Conference General Rapporteur, in cooperation with the rapporteurs of
the different sessions, summarised the key points of the presentations
and discussions. On that basis, it confirms the reference value of the principles
laid down in the Convention at international level and underlines the areas for
action proposed to address the challenges for human rights raised in particular
by scientific and technological developments. All these elements will be used
as a basis for the preparation by the Committee on Bioethics of the
Council of Europe, in 2018-2019, of the Strategic Action Plan to respond to
these challenges.
* Yesim Isil
Ulman, PhD, Prof. of History of Medicine and Ethics, Acibadem University School
of Medicine, Istanbul-Turkey / yesimul@yahoo.com