International Conference on Human Rights and Biomedicine,

Since 1997, the member states of the Council of Europe started the process of ratification of the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Biomedicine Convention) committing them to make their laws compatible with the principles and requirements of this document.

The Biomedicine Convention is the first international document formulating guiding principles on: equitable access to healthcare; informed consent; organ transplanting and the use of substances of human origin; medical research on human beings; the protection of the human embryo and fetus, and the use of medical information.

Since the Dutch government is expected to ratify the Convention, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Erasmus University Medical Center organize an international conference discussing the meaning of the Convention’s underlying principles and fundamental rights in health care, contemporary dilemmas in health care (policy), and the Convention’s impact on national health legislation and daily (medical) practice.

The conference provides an opportunity for discussion among scholars and practitioners (physicians, lawyers, ethicists, philosophers, etc.) on emerging issues in biomedicine and human rights.

List of speakers:

• Opening: dr. J. Bussemaker, Vice-Minister of Health, the Netherlands (invited)
• Prof. T. Beauchamp, professor of Philosophy Georgetown University, Kennedy Institute of Ethics (USA) (public lecture)
• Prof. J. Harris, professor of Bioethic, University of Manchester (UK) (Public Lecture)
• Prof. C. Casabona, professor of Penal Law, Director of the Inter-University chair of Law and the Human Genome, University of Deusto and University of The Basque Country, (Spain)
• Dr. D. Madden, senior lecturer University College Cork (Ireland)
• Dr. H. ten Have, Director Division of Ethics of Science and Technology UNESCO
• Prof. H. Nys, Director of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law, KU Leuven (Belgium)
• Dr. C. de Sola, Head of Health and Bioethics Department, Council of Europe
• Prof. T. Stoltzfus Jost, professor of health law, Washington and Lee University (USA).
• Prof. R. Lawson, holding the Kirchheiner chair (Protection of the integrity of the individual), Leiden University (NL)
• Dr. R. Andorno, senior research fellow, Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich (CH)
• Prof. E. Doppelfeld, professor emeritus of Medical Ethics, University of Bonn (Germany)
• Dr. R. Reusser, Council of Europe Steering Committee on Bioethics (CDBI), (CH)
• Prof. M. Sutrop, professor of Philosophy, University of Tartu (EE)
• Prof. H. Lindemann, professor of medical ethics, Michigan State University (USA)
• Dr. W. Deville, senior researcher Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), (NL)
• Prof. G. J. van Ommen, Center for Human and Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center (NL)

Further details and registration: www.biomedicineconvention.nl

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