The Erasmus University Rotterdam hosts an International Conference on Human Rights and Biomedicine Dec. 10-12, 2008.
The Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (officially, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine, 1997) stipulated the legal principles which are binding on the field of medicine and biology. Together with the European Convention on Human Rights, it is one of the leading treaty documents passed by the Council of Europe.
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 1997, the member states of the Council of Europe started the process of ratification that commits them to make their laws compatible with the principles and requirements of this document. Since the Dutch government is expected to ratify the Convention, the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Erasmus University Medical Center organize an international conference starting at international Human Rights Day (10 December 2008).
