Dec 10, 2020 | News
By Serena Montefusco
In 1947, a Human Rights Commission, led by Eleanor Roosevelt, a pioneer and fervent supporter of human rights, met to draft what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Commission was composed of a committee created by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations of the eight member states selected based on the criterion of the broadest geographical representativeness. The Declaration was presented in September 1948 and adopted a few months later. On December 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was seen as a mere non-legally binding instrument, a “soft law” that laid the solid foundations for the rebirth of consciences shaken by the Second World War. In the following years, it became a crucial instrument of international law to protect fundamental human rights and a pillar of subsequent legally binding conventions and documents.
In October 2005, the General Assembly of UNESCO responded to rapid developments in science and technology and related ethical issues and approved the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. Starting from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, below we would like to present the commitment of the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights. Since its 2009 foundation, the Chair has been and continues to be at the forefront of the dissemination and promotion of universal human rights through projects, study groups, advanced training courses, national and international workshops.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “men are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, and have “duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.” (art. 29), It adds that “the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” (art. 14). As part of the “European Citizens for Solidarity” (EUROSOL) project, co-funded by the Europe for Citizens program, on November 27, 2017, the Chair organized a public forum on the topic of “Human Dignity and Human Rights of Refugees.” The event brought together dozens of experts from eight countries to discuss EU resolutions related to the refugee crisis and propose new strategies and actions to address the urgent issues of the day: promoting intercultural dialogue, combating the stigmatization of migrants, and promoting tolerance and empathy. In addition, through the Bioethics Global Art project, the Bioaesthetics study group and the collaboration with the Fondazione Marianna, of which the Director of the Chair, Prof. Alberto García Gómez is an advisor, the Chair is pioneering the dissemination of human rights through art in all its forms. In 2011, 2013 and 2015, the Chair organized two art competitions and several exhibitions of unique pieces created by international artists committed and sensitive to the struggle for the rights of the most vulnerable.
Article 18, which enshrines freedom of thought, conscience and religion, introduces us to the project Bioethics, Multiculturalism and Religion with which the Chair wants to provide a place for debate where representatives of different religions and traditions can: engage one another in a sustained scholarly dialogue about global bioethics; cultivate an amicable atmosphere so participants can learn about each other’s tradition or religion with discursive empathy; promote mutual understanding of global bioethics through respectful discussion and scholarship; strive to develop the linguistic and conceptual space in which common ground or convergence can emerge and be mutually recognized and appreciated; and finally foster creative cooperation while respecting the dignity and uniqueness of each tradition.
The Chair, in conclusion, seeks to create venues for diverse leaders in bioethical thought. Working together in a spirit of respect and friendship, it aims to provide a common framework to guide the application of bioethical principles in light of the UNESCO Declaration. In this way, ethical, legal, and public views, decisions, and actions related to medicine, life sciences, human rights, and responsibilities can be informed and illuminated.
Nov 16, 2020 | News
El 19 de octubre pasado, junto con la Facultad de Bioética de la Universidad Anáhuac, organizamos un seminario titulado “Día Mundial de la Bioética”. En esta ocasión el Director de la Cátedra, Prof. Alberto García comenzó el seminario con un mensaje sobre “La proyección de la Bioética en el futuro a nivel mundial.”
Sigue leyendo la noticia en Anahuac.mx/EscuelasyFacultades/Bioetica
Además, fue publicada la “Declaración sobre Bioética y Salud Mental derivada de la celebración del Día Mundial de la Bioética.”
Preámbulo
La salud, según la Organización Mundial de la Salud, es un “estado de completo bienestar físico, mental y social, y no solamente la ausencia de afecciones o enfermedades”. Sin embargo, es un hecho que la disminución en la salud mental se manifiesta con la presencia de afecciones psicosociales y trastornos mentales, que actualmente aquejan a más de mil millones de personas. La pandemia por COVID-19 ha alterado la rutina habitual de los individuos, les ha enfrentado a situaciones críticas y les ha llevado a desarrollar, en muchos casos, depresión, ansiedad, consumo de sustancias y trastornos relacionados con trauma y estrés. En la pospandemia, enfrentaremos problemáticas de diversa índole, tales como las médicas, psicológicas, sociales y económicas; observaremos muy probablemente un incremento en los trastornos mentales, en las adicciones al alcohol, a las drogas, la presencia de ludopatías, altos índices de violencia doméstica como consecuencia del largo período de confinamiento y un aumento considerable de la conducta suicida, por lo que el bienestar, la integridad y la vida de las personas está en riesgo. Es por tanto, imperante desarrollar una visión empática y solidaria que permita, desde los principios de la bioética tales como la sociabilidad, la subsidiariedad y la justicia distributiva, involucrar a todos los miembros de la sociedad para implementar estrategias orientadas al bien común, a la disminución de las condiciones que otorgan vulnerabilidad social y a la garantía del acceso a los servicios de salud mental por parte de la población. La Bioética juega, pues, un papel fundamental en el abordaje de este problema urgente que nos inquieta en los albores de la vida postpandemia y debe, por ello, fortalecerse, ahora más que nunca, como una Bioética en salida, capaz de ir a las fronteras y límites humanos para rescatar y salvaguardar la dignidad de todas las personas buscando con ello el beneficio de toda la sociedad con una visiòn fortalecida dirigida hacia el bien común. Creemos, por todo lo anterior, que es preciso rescatar los principios de la Bioética para poder enfrentar, con decisión y arrojo, esta otra pandemia de afectaciones a la salud mental de las personas.
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Oct 20, 2020 | News
The organizers of the III World Congress of Transdisciplinary Virtual, the Centre International de Recherches et Études Transdisciplinaires (CIRET-FRANCE), the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH/INAH-MEXICO), the UNESCO Transdisciplinary Chair on “Human Development and Culture of Peace”, University of Florence (UTC-ITALY), the Transdisciplinary Education Centre (CETRANS-BRAZIL) realize this world event of great importance to humanity, which will take place from October 30, 2020, until September 17, 2021.
This Virtual Congress is part of the III World Congress Face-to-Face Transdisciplinarity, to be held November 2-6, 2021 in Mexico City, with presentations, round tables, symposiums, cultural and artistic activities, can be found on their website. On this site, there are the forms of registration and inscription, for the two virtual and face-to-face modalities, as well as important information.
Our UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights is part of the the Congressional CTU-Italy Committee lead by the University of Florence and will contribute participating in the RELATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF THE SPECIES of the 21st Century, III week of conferences, during which our Chair Holder, Prof. Alberto Garcia will moderate the round table entitled “Bioethical challenges of artificial intelligence for a sustainable development respectful of human rights.” The round table will be held on March 24th 2021.
Download the program in Italian
Oct 6, 2020 | CivicAL, News
Il 29 settembre dalle 09:30 alle 12:30, la nostra UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, stabilita nell’Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum e nell’Università Europea di Roma, ha organizzato una giornata di studio sull’integrazione sociale ed educazione civica all’interno del progetto europeo CivicAL (Civic Dimensions for Social Inclusion) cofinanziato dal programma Erasmus +. La prima parte è stata dedicata al dibattito tra esperti di migrazioni ed educazione civica con testimonianze dirette. La seconde, invece, alla presentazione degli Intellectual Outputs del progetto: Il “Manuale per i formatori” e il videogioco the CIVIC HUNTING. Il seminario è stato trasmesso su piattaforma ZOOM con traduzione simultanea in inglese e in italiano.
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Dopo i saluti iniziali del Prof. Alberto Garcia, Direttore della Cattedra, sono intervenuti i relatori che hanno preso parte al seminario, P. Antonio Lemos, LC, dell’Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum e P. Aldo Skoda, Scalabriniano del Scalabrini International Migration Institute P. Lemos, LC ha esposto una visione sui flussi migratori partendo dalle Sacre Scritture, il ruolo della Chiesa attraverso il Global Compact e secondo la Dottrina della Chiesa. Subito dopo P. Aldo Skoda, ha introdotto il concetto della mobilità umana come un fenomeno in continuo cambiamento caratterizzato dalla comunicazione scorretta attraverso i media che lo ritrae come come fenomeno di “distrazione di massa,” così alimentando tutti quei pregiudizi intorno alle migrazioni togliendo dignità a quelle persone costrette a lasciare il proprio paese.
Il Seminario, moderato dal Dott. Giovanni Intra Sidola, Formazione Integrale dell’Università Europea di Roma, ha proseguito con la presentazione degli Intellectual Outputs: Il Manuale dei Formatori, da parte della Dott.ssa Lilian Santons, coordinatrice del progetto CivicAL del team unescobiochair, e il video gioco the Civic Hunting presentato dalla Dott.ssa Serena Montefusco responsabile di comunicazione dello stesso team.
Il Seminario si è concluso con due interessanti testimonianze di inclusione sociale grazie alla partecipazione di Anastasiia Shmatina di Humilitas e Chiara Renzi di Casa Scalabrini 634 entrambi programmi dell’Agenzia Scalabriniana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo.
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