Medicine, human rights and ethics: paths to universal rights

Abstract

The core of global practical ethics consists in the international adherence to human rights. The medical and healthcare communities stand at the forefront of fundamental challenges. In 2008 the 60th anniversaries of the ‘‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’’ and the ‘‘Declaration of Geneva’’ adopted by the World Medical Association were celebrated. In September 1948, the Second General Assembly of the World Medical Association adopted in Geneva a declaration on the ethics of the medical profession as an up-to-date ‘‘revision of the Hippocratic Oath.’’ The Declaration of Geneva thus became one of the most important sources for medical ethics, and an integral part of the professional code for medical personnel. Only weeks later—on December 10th 1948—the ‘‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’’ was promulgated by the General Assembly of the United Nations in the Parisian Palais de Chaillot as the foundation for international humanitarian law. Article 11 postulated: ‘‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’’ The historical proximity of the two declarations was no accident; both were clearly reactions to the violations of human rights and human dignity under the National Socialist regime from 1933 to 1945. Ever since, the ‘‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’’ has been the basis for international humanitarian law and served to give lasting protection to the individual. Health is an essential requirement for the UNO’s aims of