Towards a Declaration on Universal Norms in Bioethics: Process, Drafting and Finalization

Michèlle Stanton Jean, Université de Montréal; Chair, International Bioethics Committee, UNESCO

Biographical Note:

Michèlle S. Jean, M.A., M.Ed., LL.D.
(Honorary from Concordia University, Montreal).

Michèlle S. Jean has been the Chair of the International Bioethics Committee since November 2002. She has been working since November 2003 on the preparation of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, adopted by the General Conference on 19 October 2005.
Since October 2005 she is Guest Scholar at the Faculty of Law, Centre de recherche en droit public, Montreal University.
She has occupied many important positions with the Federal and Provincial Governments.

• Counsellor in program development, Faculty of Higher Education, Université de Montréal, (September 2000 -October 2005).
• Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, assigned at the Canadian Mission to the European Union in Brussels, (July 1998 to August 2000).
• Deputy Minister, Health Canada, (June 1993 - June 1998).
• Under Secretary of State, Department of the Secretary of State of Canada, (November 1992 - June 1993).
• Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Employment and Immigration and Vice-Chairman, Canada Employment and Immigration Commission, (November 1990 - November 1992).
• Executive Director, Employment, Employment and Immigration Canada, (May 1989 - November 1990).
• Executive Director, Employment Services, Employment and Immigration Canada, (August, 1988 - May, 1989).
• Assistant Deputy Minister, Professional Training Sector, Department of Manpower and Income Security, (Québec April 1984 - July 1988).
• Adult education training consultant, College de Bois-de-Boulogne, (September 1975 - April 1984).
• Chair, Commission of Inquiry on Vocational and Socio-Cultural Training for Adults (CITA), (January 23, 1980 - February 26, 1982).
• Reporter for the daily newspaper Le Soleil, 1957 - 1959.

She is also Vice-Chair of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Vice-Chair of the Board of the Quebec Health Research Fund, member of the Quebec Commission for Ethics in Science and Technology.

She has written extensively in Health, Ethics, and Adult Education and is one of the authors of L’Histoire des femmes au Québec, Montréal, Éditions du Jour 1992, 646 pages.

Developing Principles of Ethical Conduct in Engineering Practice under the North American Free Trade Agreement

Jimmy Smith, Director, National Institute for Engineering Ethics and the Murdough Center for Engineering Professionalism

Abstract

The provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) included requirements for developing guidelines for all professions when practicing across the borders of Canada, Mexico and the United States. One of the requirements was an agreement on "conduct and ethics." Among the various issues being considered under NAFTA, the issue of conduct and professional ethics was viewed as an essential element in implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement. The ethical aspects of international engineering practice were considered vital to future engineering endeavors under NAFTA. This paper presents the process established and the concepts studied by the research team in order to achieve a set of “principles of conduct and ethics in engineering practice” acceptable to all three nations.

Biographical Note:

A Creation of Asian Engineers' Guideline of Ethics

Jang Gyu Lee, Professor, School of Electrical Engineering, Seoul National University; Founding member, National Academy of Engineering of Korea

Abstract

The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ), and the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK) signed and declared Asian Engineers’ Guideline of Ethics in the 8th East Asia Round Table Meeting (EA-RTM) on November 1, 2004 in Suzhou, China. The ceremonial event is an outcome of a long, collaborative effort of the three Academies each of which is considered as a representative body of engineers of the respective country. A preparation for a joint declaration on engineering ethics started in the early stage of the EA-RTM. Since the inception of the EA-RTM on November 12, 1997 in Osaka, Japan, the three Academies have annually met with the objective to discuss regional, common, technological issues and provide impartial, balanced advice for the continuous progress on engineering technology in East Asia. In search of a meaningful project to meet the objective, they approved a launch of a working group to prepare a code of engineering ethics in the 2002 meeting.

The three Academies have realized the following concerns. Engineering technologies based on new methods of such as transportation, communication, production, life support, environmental protection, information handling, and education have brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the welfare of society by means of industrial development, economic growth, and upgraded living conditions. Asian engineers need to be credited for their role in improving the quality of life in this society by exploiting the opportunities and meeting the challenges. The impact of an engineer’s work on the society is enormous. Modern engineering technology is a pervasive, complex system whose cultural, social, political, and intellectual elements are manifest in virtually every aspect of our lives. Thus, engineers need to act conscientiously regarding the safety, health, and welfare of the public in performance of their professional work. They believe that all Asian engineers need to commit themselves to high ethical standards in exercising their profession, so that the engineering technology maintains its contribution toward the welfare of the society and improvement of the quality of life.

The code of engineering ethics prepared by the working group has been named as Asian Engineers’ Guideline of Ethics. It consists of a preamble and twelve (12) cannons. The code is written in a generic form rather than specific to encompass a wide range of engineering disciplines. Asian engineers share a common culture. Interactivities between them are historically and geographically active. These characteristics are also emerged in the code. In this talk, I will introduce the contents and backgrounds of Asian Engineers’ Guideline of Ethics. Together, I will seek an effective way of disseminating the code among Asian engineers to commit themselves to high ethical standards in exercising their profession.

Biographical Note:

Jang Gyu Lee is a Professor at School of Electrical Engineering of Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Before he joined the University in 1982, he was a technical staff at The Analytic Sciences Corporation (TASC), Reading, Massachusetts and Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a B.S. from Seoul National University in 1971, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh in 1974 and 1977, respectively, all in electrical engineering. His current research interests include theory and applications of linear and nonlinear filtering, navigation technologies, and MEMS-based inertial sensors. He published over 150 journal papers and 250 conference papers in the interested areas of research.

In addition to the primary research area, he is interested in science and technology studies (STS). In 1998 and 1999, as a visiting professor he spent a year at the Center for the Study of Science in Society, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. where he developed an undergraduate course entitled “Engineering Technology and Society.” He has since taught the course at the College of Engineering of Seoul National University.

He is a founding member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea where he has contributed to create “Asian Engineers’ Guideline of Ethics” in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Engineering Academy of Japan.

The Development of a Code for Chinese Nurses in the Context of International Nursing Ethics Using the Delphi Technique

Samantha Pang, Professor and Acting Head, School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Abstract

Under the auspicious of Chinese Nursing Association, a group of Hong Kong and mainland nurses ventured to develop a code of ethics that could represent the way in which Chinese nurses articulate the international nursing ethical norms in their own language in 1999. This draft code was eventually adapted by the Council of Nursing as the Code of Ethics for Hong Kong Nurses in 2002. With a view that we would get the words but might not the spirit if we appointed a committee to forthwith formulate a code of ethics without learning the mind of the greater number, the Delphi technique was applied to deliberate a series of activities in order to arrive at a consensus of should constitute the Chinese code of ethics. In this Delphi process, three rounds of questionnaires and feedback were conducted. In the first round, content analysis of available international and national nursing codes was conducted to identify the essential elements. It was further structured into a questionnaire for obtaining feedback from nursing experts in different Chinese communities. The suggested code was drafted in the second round of the Delphi process. In the third round, the revised code was also translated into English so that feedback could also be obtained from the English-speaking nursing community. In order to reach larger respondent groups from greater China, means of gathering feedback included mailed and web-based questionnaire. This paper will first describe how the Chinese code was drafted in the light of international nursing ethical norms. The second part will analyze the Chinese-ness of this code as compared to the Code of Ethics formulated by the International Council of Nurses. The third part of this paper will discuss the applicability of using the Delphi technique in developing a code with national characteristics as well as recognizing its position in an international context.

Biographical Note:

Samantha Mei-che Pang is a nurse by professional training, and a researcher in the field of healthcare and nursing ethics by scholarly endeavor. She earned her Master of Science in Nursing Education from The University of Edinburgh in 1990, and the Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy from The University of Hong Kong in 1999. In 2002, she was named one of the first recipients of the Fulbright Hong Kong Scholar Program awards to study cross-cultural differences in making end-of-life decisions in the U.S.

Pang started her career as a nurse academic in 1990, when she took up a teaching post at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University where she now serves as Professor and acting head in the School of Nursing. Over the past ten years, she has taught, lectured, and published in the areas of nursing ethics, caring practices, and ethics in end-of-life care.

The projects she has undertaken in collaboration with her counterparts on the Chinese mainland include the development of a code of ethical principles for Chinese nurses, the cultural construction of caring in nurse learners, a phenomenological study of the Chinese concept of nursing, and ethical decision-making in end-of-life care. She is also actively involved in nursing ethics endeavours internationally. She has participated in the study of ethical considerations in international nursing research, and cross-cultural study in virtue ethics. She is on the editorial board of Nursing Ethics, Chinese Journal of Nursing Education and Journal of Modern Nursing Education and Research. She also serves as reviewer in several international journals such as Nursing Research, Journal of Advanced Nursing, and Journal of Medical Ethics. She also serves as chairperson and member in local research ethics and clinical ethics committees.

Towards a Global Code of Ethics for Science and Engineering

Hidekazu Kanemitsu, Assistant Professor, Kanazawa Institute of Technology

Abstract

At present, a movement attempting to establish a global code of ethics for science and engineering (GCESE) is in activity. The author will first briefly provide an overview of the context of this movement, and examine the values that should be incorporated in a GCESE. And he shall proceed to consider the values underlie the practice of engineering and science in Asia, and suggest a few codes that reflect Asian values but that can be applied in the global context.

One of the elements necessary for the establishment of a GCESE is to identify common values that can be incorporated in a GCESE. To determine the common values, the author considers the values that reflected in the existing codes of engineering societies, after taking a minimal set of shared values into consideration. In addition to the codes of ethics of engineering societies, as sources of a GCESE, the ethical precepts of the major religions of the world and the insight of moral theories are taken into. And he shall proceed to consideration of Asian values.

And at last, the author clarifies "respect for family or group," or "care for others" and "Mottainai" as Asian values, and suggests two codes that reflect Asian values but that can be applied in the global context.

These suggested codes are too abstract and, naturally, incomplete. These codes are only intended to be a basis for further discussion.

Biographical Note:

Hidekazu KANEMITSU is Assistant Professor at Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT) and Researcher of the Applied Ethics Center for Engineering and Science (ACES). At KIT, he belongs to Humanities and Social Sciences Program, and has charge of Science and Engineering Ethics. He studied philosophy and ethics, and now is in charge of the sub-project on the Global Code of Ethics for Science and Engineering in this project "The Formation of Ethics Crossroads and the Construction of Science and Engineering Ethics."

KANEMITSU received a B.A. in philosophy and M.A. in philosophy from Hokkaido University, Japan.