National Bioethics Committees in selected States of North Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

It didn't take the decision of the Islamic states at the 59th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2004 to follow Iran's proposal to adjourn the consideration of the “International convention on cloning” to the 60th General Assembly to make clear that Islamic states have their own approach to bioethical questions – an Islamic approach. That became obvious when the “Cairo declaration on human rights in Islam” was adopted in 1990. This is also underlined by the “First regional meeting of national bioethics committees” in Cairo in 2007. As Islamic states established national bioethics committees for the purpose of communicating bioethical issues and ethical perspectives, these committees are the main liaison agencies for bioethical issues on the international level. This paper discusses Islamic states' national bioethics committees and their work. It poses the question how and where Islamic values are reflected.