Report of the International Bioethics Committee of UNESCO (IBC) On Social Responsibility and Health

Abstract

This Report is the result of a long reflection within the UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee (IBC) which began at its twelfth session (Tokyo, Japan, December 2005) immediately after the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. It does not pretend to be exhaustive nor prescriptive and does not necessarily represent the views of the Member States of UNESCO. It also does not aim at duplicating the work or debates on public health policy issues already addressed in other international bodies, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO), and it has indeed built upon such work and debates. It attempts to address public health policy questions from a bioethical standpoint by developing the ethical and legal dimensions of the principle of responsibility and its relations to health, thus enriching the reflection on the principle of social responsibility and health as stated in the Declaration and its practical application.