UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights. Roma, Italy

International Conference

Religions, Cultures, Human Rights: Complex Relations in Evolution

The UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights was one of the co-sponsors of the International Conference “Religions, Cultures, Human Rights: Complex Relations in Evolution” organized by Religion for Peace and under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic.  It was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affair in Rome from May 12-13, 2010.  The UNESCO Chair fellow Fr. Joseph Tham represented our director Alberto Garcia to explain the project we have initiated in the areas of Religion, Multiculturalism and Bioethics to more than 100 participants and speakers at this congress.  Filippo Vari, full time professor of the Law program at the European University of Rome, and Felix de Luxembourg, Sherilyn DiMarco and Claire Lademacher, students of the School of Bioethics who are interns of the Chair were also present.  See program flyer

UNESCO Chair collaborating with Center of Human Rights of Anahuac del Sur University

On May 26, 2010, the Universidad Anahuac del Sur of Mexico inaugurated Center of Human Rights, which is under the direction of the university's Law School.  This Center seeks to deepen the different aspects  and basis of human rights by means of international academic exchanges.

The four main activities undertaken by this center are: RESEARCH (foundational issues, analysis and proposals); EDUCATION (courses, conferences, at graduate and master's level), DIFFUSION (publications, website and conferences), and CONSULTATION (service to the public and private parties, NGOs and groups interested in the promotion of human rights).

Alberto Garcia, JD, Director of the UNESCO Chair participated in the inauguration event.    See more in Spanish at Anahuac's website.  An initial fruit of this collaboration consists in a Diploma on Biolaw. 

Presentation of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights

The official presentation of the UNESCO chair in Bioethics and human rights took place on the 22^nd of March, 2010. 

The event was held in the Pontifical athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and hosted the speakers: Henk Ten Have - Director of the Division of Ethics of Science and Technology, Professor Alberto Garcia – Director of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, Reverend P. Friedrich Bechina F.S.O. – Official for the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Professor Enrico Garaci – President of the Superior Council of Sanitation.

Second International Bioethics, Multiculturalism and Religion Workshop and Conference on Human Vulnerability

Rome, Italy, October 10-13, 2011

With the advance of biomedicine, certain individuals and groups are vulnerable because of their incapacities to defend themselves.  Many world religions include the protection of the weak, underprivileged and the poor as part of their mission. 

In light of the need to deepen our understanding of the principle of human vulnerability and personal integrity, this meeting will consist in a three-day workshop where bioethics experts from major world religions—Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Hinduism—to discuss the meaning and implications of this principle in their traditions.