Brave New World at the General Assembly

Between 2001 and 2005 a debate raged at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that resulted in the Declaration on Human Cloning. Professor Nigel Cameron , board member of 2020health, has co-authored this comprehensive article which charters the journey of the original proposal. Initiated by a French and Germans proposal for a Convention to prohibit human cloning, it concludes with the Declaration, signed by 87 countries but opposed by the UK. The conclusion reminds us that “ At a point when relations between the west and the Islamic world were uniquely uneasy, despite the best efforts of OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) leaders, a majority of its members voted to support a policy that had been laid before the General Assembly by the U.S. President in person. At a time when the United States and the United Kingdom were more closely allied, and isolated, than they have been for many years, U.S. diplomacy was engaged around the globe against a key domestic priority of the U.K. government. As the twenty-first century unfolds, new issues will emerge on such fronts as artificial intelligence, the augmentation (and putative “enhancement”) of human capacities, the development of synthetic biology, and the blending of human and machine (into a so-called “cyborg”). It is to be hoped that the policy community both domestic and international will take the initiative to explore their significance for fundamental human rights and freedoms and not be held hostage either by existing paradigms (such as abortion) or an unwillingness to confront questions that are not susceptible to consensus resolution. (by Julia Manning)

Related Articles

Brave New World at the General Assembly: The United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning Nigel M. de S. Cameron & Anna V. Henderson