International Bioethics Committee

The International Bioethics Committee (IBC) of UNESCO is a body composed of 36 independent experts from all regions and different disciplines (mainly medicine, genetics, law, and philosophy) that follows progress in the life sciences and its applications in order to ensure respect for human dignity and human rights. It was created in 1993 by Dr Federico Mayor Zaragoza, General Director of UNESCO at that time. It has been prominent in developing Declarations with regard to norms of bioethics that are regarded as soft law but are nonetheless influential in shaping the deliberations, for example, of research ethics committees (or Institutional review board) and health policy.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ UNESCO IBC [1] (last accessed 18 June 2009)
  2. ^ Allyn Taylor (1999), "Globalization and Biotechnology: UNESCO and an International Strategy to Advance Human Rights and Public Health", American Journal of Law and Medicine, 25(4), 479-541.
  3. ^ Roberto Andorno (2007), "The invaluable role of soft law in the development of universal norms in bioethics", Presentation at the Workshop: The implementation of bioethical principles. A comparative analysis". German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, 2007 [2]