Coimbra International Symposium:
Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine: updated or outdated?
André Pereira
The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine was approved by the
Council of Europe, in Oviedo, in April 1997. It regulates biomedical law and
aims the harmonization of European human rights and principles. The message is
clear: science and technology is a just a means to serve the human person and
not a goal in itself. Therefore, Law and Ethics shall regulate the use of
technology and not the other way around.
The Oviedo Convention has been correctly called as the European Constitution of Medical Law and
fourteen years after its approval this International Document is of paramount
importance in the legal debate in medical law, as more countries ratify it. As
we write, 28 countries have done so and France is in the procedure of ratifying
it.
Last 11th and 12th July took place at the Faculty
of Law of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) an International Symposium about
this Convention. This symposium was organized by Dr. André Pereira of the
Centre for Biomedical Law and it was included as a second part of the European Summer Course on Health Law and
Bioethics of the University of Toulouse – III, organized by Prof.
Anne-Marie Duguet. The Executive Committee of the WAML has endorsed and
co-sponsored this program and several Governors and members of the WAML
participated in this Symposium. Moreover, President Noguchi gave a speech (by
video), introducing the role of the WAML.
The issues that were analyzed and discussed match with the chapters of
the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine: Principles,
Informed consent, Private life and right to
information, Human genome, Assisted reproduction technologies, Scientific research, Organ and tissue removal from living donors for
transplantation purposes, Prohibition of financial gain and disposal of a part
of the human body and Infringements of the provisions of the convention.
The success of the Symposium was due to the quality
of the speakers, of which 19 were women and 8 were men. The audience was
highly motivated. Including the speakers and chairpersons, there were more around
80 participants. This gives us hope of a strong
development of Medical Law with this enthusiastic group and other young
colleagues. There were participants coming from more
than 10 Countries (Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Check
Republic, Ukraine, Brazil, United States and Mauritius).
It has also been stressed the atmosphere of free thinking and fraternal
academic debate, which enables participants to argue in tolerance conflicting
views about sensitive bioethical issues. That is, in our opinion, the greatest
strength of the University and shall remain so.
The Organizing Committee, after debating with the
speakers of the Symposium, and the members of the Executive Committee of the
WAML, reached the following statement:
Final Statement:
1. The
Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine has played a major role in the
development of Medical Law in these last 14 years and is becoming a ius
commune in most European Countries. Therefore, more ratification procedures
of the Convention and its Additional Protocols by State Parties should be
encouraged and the continuation of the work concerning development and approval
of other Protocols should be supported.
2. The
principles of Human dignity, Integrity of the Human person; Transparency (of
medical treatment and medical research); Equity in access to health services
and Prohibition of financial gains from sale of the human body or its parts are
paramount in European Bioethics and should be promoted by the Council of Europe
and the State Parties.
3. The Symposium contributions propose new interpretations and demand a
permanent debate about the coherence of the Convention and the community
expectations in the field of bioethics, namely in areas like Assisted
Reproduction Technologies, Genetic tests, Data protection, Living wills,
End-of-life decisions and Law enforcement.
4. The
public debate of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine ought to be
encouraged. Notably graduate students in Law, Philosophy, Bioethics, Medicine,
Nursing, Pharmacy, Life Sciences and other relevant areas should learn and
debate the text of the Oviedo Convention and its additional Protocols. Only
through education and debate can there be an informed society and a true
democratic choice.
5. The
Prohibition of financial gains or comparable advantage from the human body
should be reaffirmed, notably in the field of surrogate motherhood, donation of
organs and tissues and in the area of research with human tissues. In order to
clarify the balance between the protection of human beings and the advance of
science and technology, an additional Protocol concerning prohibition of
financial gains from the human body should be enacted. Human genome, as such,
is a Common Good of Humanity and should remain Intellectual Property free.
6. The Council of Europe should promote Symposiums in order to debate each
article of the Convention, with a perspective of each State Party and the means of
implementation. A report on the evolution of the implementation should be
published regularly; the collaboration of Academic institutions should be
encouraged for this purpose.
