National Bioethics Committee of Jamaica NBCJ (UNESCO) in Perspective. by John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola BEWAJI Chairman

Transcription

1 National Bioethics Committee of Jamaica NBCJ (UNESCO) in Perspective by John Ayotunde (Tunde) Isola BEWAJI Chairman

2 Short History Meetings started in 2007/2008 Was Inaugurated in September 2008 Formal Launching was on October 1, 2009 Constitution Adopted 2010 Training Workshops: March 2009 November 2010 March 2011

3 Activities Some activities, public forum, community/public enlightenment engagements were undertaken. These included: Human Trafficking Abortion Cloning GM Foods Protection of Health Records

4 Challenges: a) Funding The promised seed money from UNESCO Head Office as Seed Money to facilitate the take-off of the NBCJ never materialized The Government of Jamaica, through the UNESCO National Secretariat, never budgeted for the NBC This meant that no provision was made for the operation and running of the NBCJ, and NBCJ had to be soliciting for funds through various creative measures to perform basic functions, including the personal initiative of Dr. Mullings to connect with Fogarty Grant to the Pan American Bioethics Initiative (PABI) of the Ethics Programs of the University of Miami.

5 Challenges: b) Structural These are to be understood in two ways: The First relate to absence of a dedicated Secretariat as the Constitution envisaged a) The University of the West Indies, as a Regional University, proposed to provide Secretariat Facilities and Support on its Mona Campus. A debate ensued, and this offer was never taken up, for no good reason and as such the independence and life of the NBCJ was tied to the UNESCO National Office. b) UNESCO National Office elected to keep NBCJ Secretariat under its umbrella. This meant that for everything, the National Office, which neither budgeted nor received dedicated funding for NBCJ kept the Committee under its foot-hold. c) This virtually crippled the NBCJ from the beginning, as it could not do anything without being beholden to some other organization. As a Bioethics Committee, this was unhealthy.

6 Challenges: b) Structural The second is the Constitutional Gap: The Constitution of the NBCJ provided for an Independent Secretariat, without having a post of a Secretary or formal Head of the Secretariat! As it were, all Secretarial Support depended on the UNESCO Jamaica National Office, and the Chairman doubled as Secretary, recording minutes, and where such was not done, some records of the Committee with regard to activities and meetings were hard to preserve.

7 Challenges: c) Educational Bioethics/Ethics/Philosophy Education in English Speaking Caribbean One of the basic functions of the NBCJ as conceptualized from the beginning, and as recommended by the UNESCO Head Office was to redress the paucity of this kind of education by way of structured policy leadership, curriculum development, public awareness and leadership of critical reflection on Bioethical matters in Jamaica and the Caribbean as the only National Bioethics Committee in the English Speaking Caribbean. Most regions of the world and most societies take the teaching of philosophy, ethics, and intellectual traditions of humanity seriously. The Caribbean has not had that good fortune or luxury, hence there is no single University or tertiary level education institution that has a Department of Philosophy, or that teaches Ethics and Bioethics in any structured way.

8 Challenges: c) Educational cont d NBCJ was to serve as a capacity building organ for both public awareness, educational catalyst and centre for ensuring the development in public and private organizations the kinds of reflective engagement that has been lacking. The current structure and template on which NBCJ operates constitute a serious limitation in this process, hence all aspects of the activities of NBCJ has been affected negatively in the area of education, capacity building and policy leadership.

9 Challenges: d) Non-inclusiveness Non-inclusiveness of the Caribbean in the UNESCO and other International Bioethics Conversation There is no doubt that Bioethics, Ethics and Philosophy Education has been embraced in Latin America, Central America and South America. This is evident in the leadership role that individuals, organizations and institutions have played in various communities and globally. No one can brush aside the voice of Latin America in global ethical discourse. This has not been the case with the Caribbean. Being a series of islands with low population and resource base, the region is not only susceptible to natural disasters created by others, but also human disasters emanating from abandonment to the devastation of international capitalism. This has meant that the region struggle for inclusion

10 Challenges: d) Non-inclusiveness Cont d I made this clear in Mexico, to which I paid my own way (along with Ms. Cheryl Brown) to represent Jamaica without any support either from the Government of Jamaica or the UNESCO Jamaica National Office. It was because of the stridency of my lamentations that I have been invited to join in the Global Committee planning the Berlin Summit for next year. The question is: How does one expect a region challenged historically and contemporaneously like the Caribbean to embrace Ethics, Bioethics, Philosophy and other culturally enriching ideas?

11 Opportunities: Suggestions Educational efforts:the UNESCO Regional Office to conduct a one/two day workshop on the role of Philosophy and Ethics in the Tertiary Curriculum. All tertiary institutions in the Caribbean should have robust Ethics, Bioethics and Philosophy programmes. This is not to be scoffed at, as even in the heat of the recession that is killing USA and Europe, there has been no recession in the preparation of Americans and Europeans for the leadership and domination of humanity and the world. There is need for structured leadership in the development and education of the youth in conflict awareness, management, avoidance, prevention and resolution capacities. This must be the next stage in the Global Bioethics Initiative. For persons living in the inner cities in USA, Jamaica, El Salvador, etc, there is need to equip the youth in these areas of our civilization. This is a global bioethical disaster already happening. It is the reason why the whole of the Middle East has been combustible, and it is the reason why the easy thing to do for IMF and World Bank is the victimization of the Victim.