title: UNESCO's activities in ethics.
abstract: UNESCO is an intergovernmental organization with 193 Member States. It is concerned with a broad range of issues regarding education, science and culture. It is the only UN organisation with a mandate in science. Since 1993 it is addressing ethics of science and technology, with special emphasis on bioethics. One major objective of the ethics programme is the development of international normative standards. This is particularly important since many Member States only have a limited infrastructure in bioethics, lacking expertise, educational programs, bioethics committees and legal frameworks. UNESCO has recently adopted the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. The focus of current activities is now on implementation of this Declaration. Three activities are discussed that aim at improving and reinforcing the ethics infrastructure in relation to science and technology: the Global Ethics Observatory, the Ethics Education Programme and the Assisting Bioethics Committees project.
authors.affiliation: Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, UNESCO, 75015 Paris, France. h.tenhave@unesco.org
authors.forename: Henk A M J
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: ten Have
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education; D003479:Curriculum; D019992:Databases as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration; D034723:Double Effect Principle; D017041:Ethics Committees / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006806:Human Rights / Q000193:education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D038622:Internationality; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics; D012586:Science / Q000941:ethics*; D013672:Technology / Q000941:ethics*; D014480:United Nations / Q000941:ethics* / Q000458:organization & administration
references.citation: J Law Med Ethics. 1997 Winter;25(4):295-306, 231
references.pmid: 11066512