C E B O . org

Posted 10:16 PM by Mary

For Release: IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT Sept. 15, 2005
Contact: Ana Lita (212) 687-3324
Top Bioethicists Discuss Cloning at United Nations
IHEU - Appignani Center for Bioethics to host panel, Sept. 26
NEW YORK – On Monday Sept. 26, a panel of leading bioethicists will discuss the future of cloning at the United Nations. Speakers include Glenn McGee, Stuart Newman, Udo Schuklenk, Liz Krueger.

The event, titled "Bioethicists Reconsider the Terms of the Debate about Cloning at the UN," will be held on the second floor of 777 UN Plaza in New York City, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission fee is $12 for the general public and $6 for students.

The panel is cosponsored by the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics and the Alden March Bioethics Institute of Albany, N.Y.

Glenn McGee holds The John A. Balint Endowed Chair in Medical Ethics, and is the director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute (NYBI), established at the Albany Medical Center in April 2005. www.bioethics.net

Stuart Newman is a professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at New York Medical College, Valhalla, N.Y. He has testified before Congressional committees on issues ranging from patenting of organisms to human stem cells and cloning. www.nymc.edu/sanewman/

Udo Schuklenk is Chair in Ethics in Public Policy and Corporate Governance and Co-Editor Bioethics and Developing World Bioethics, Glasgow, Caledonian University.
www.udo-schuklenk.org/

Liz Krueger is a New York State Senator who has introduced stem cell research legislation in 2004 and 2005. She was first elected to the New York State Senate in a Special Election in February 2002 and is currently the Chair of Minority program Development and has been a leader in developing a more democratic and deliberative legislative process. www.lizkrueger.com

The IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics focuses on raising awareness of bioethical issues confronting the international community and promotes a human-centered approach, developing and implementing an international program for lobbying. The Center is a new initiative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, the international umbrella organization for humanist, ethical culture, rationalist, secularist and free-thought groups. IHEU holds a special consultative status with the United Nations, a general consultative status with UNICEF and the Council of Europe as well as operational relations with UNESCO in Paris.

For information, contact Ana Lita at 212-687-3324 | 646-269-0773 (mobile) | AnaLita@iheu.org | www.iheu.org/bioethics

Posted 10:14 PM by Mary

The subcommittees, Universal Ethics and Global Concerns of the CONGO Committee, Spirituality Values and Global Concerns, will have its first meeting on Tuesday, September 27th, at 2:30 pm, in UN Church Center, 5th floor, Conference room. This meeting is co-sponsored by the subcommittee, The Culture of Peace. Our guest will be David Adams. David succeeded in developing a survey with 700 NGO's relating to The Culture of Peace. We are asking David to offer his views as which universal ethics may need to be prioritized in order to succeed at creating an effective culture of peace.

Because of the small room size, we are especially eager to have those who may be interested in joining the subcommittee on Universal Ethics and Global Concerns. We intend to offer a written report of our Conversation with David to be ready for the next general meeting in October. For those attending the meeting, it would be well to check into the web site David has built before the meeting: http://decade-culture-of-peace.org.


Universal Ethics and Global Concerns
"To promote peaceful co-existence...it is necessary to extend inter-civilizational encounter to discourses about ethics." (UNU Workshop on "The Contribution of Ethics in the Dialogue of Civilizations", 24-25, May 2001) To this end, the subcommittee on universal ethics and global concerns seeks to promote ethical conversations of the heart within the United Nations framework. These conversations will be designed to promote converging awareness about human dignity, justice, freedom, equality, shared responsibility, care of the earth and non-violence. We will highlight all initiatives and strategies that promote both this discourse and convergence. We hold in respect diversity of ethical perspectives.

Promoting conversations includes research into UN documents, recommendation of speakers already engaged in such conversations, and active engagement in those approaches that promote ethical global engagement, eg. collaborative networking. We seek eventually to build a bibliography that will include ethical impact studies of institutional behavior. Through networking, we intend to build civil society's ethical working relationship with the UN system.
Contact: Martha Gallahue - marlalamar@mindspring.com

Posted 8:30 AM by Mary

Ethics Orgs: Would you care to join the subcommittee,
Universal Ethics and Global Concerns,
of the CONGO Committee Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns?
We will have a first
meeting, Tuesday, September 27th at 2: 30pm Church Center interviewing
David Adams about his survey of 700 NGO's on The Culture of Peace.

Posted 5:45 PM by Mary

The Bergen County Chapter of UNA-USA, one of the many informal offshoots of Ethical Culture, will be co-sponsoring a talk by Ian Williams in the sanctuary of the Central Unitarian Church on Forest Ave in Paramus at 7:30 p.m. Oct.27 The event is entitled, THE UN : THE US: THE FUTURE IS NOW. Ian Williams is a seasoned and oiutspoken correspondent on the UN for The Nation Magazine, and a wellknown tv personality. He will share the podium with Genia Kornhaber, the Unitarian Church's UN Project Coordinator.

We are entering a time of increasing global connectedness. The UN,itself in transition, is the only institution that seeks to cope with the difficulties of this historic world change. We need to inform ourselves. This is a unique opportunity to have a very lively and pointed discussion. Please come with your questions. For information call Phyllis Ehrenfeld 201:836-1533.

Phyllis Ehrenfeld President Bergen County Chapter of UNA-USA, and Representative to the UN of the National Service Conference of the American Ethical Union
Sylvain Ehrenfeld Representative to the UN from the International Humanist Ethical Union.

Posted 5:43 PM by Mary

FROM THE UN -Syl and Phyl Ehrenfeld, IHEU
2005 General Assembly Summit

In Sept. 2005, 170 heads of state attended a major UN Assembly to consider a formidable agenda: the most sweeping changes in the UN's 60 year old history, the five year assessment of the Millennium Development Goals, and spurring of progress towards these goals. The MDGs represent agreement at an international level on plans for the world's future. Creating the plan, and achieving agreement from many nations, has been no small matter.

To highlight a few of the goals: they attack the worst scourges of humanity--the direst poverty, hunger, disease and environmental change. The goals are comprehensive, specific, doable with political will, and measurable, with a timetable to be achieved by 2015. In 2000, world leaders made pledges for these goals. Now the UN is assessing progress and forming strategies for further advances.

To quote Kofi Annan: The cost of missing this opportunity will be millions of lives that could have been saved will be lost: many freedoms that could have been secured, will be denied, and we will inhabit a more dangerous and unstable world.

During the past 6 months, intensive consultation with many nations resulted in a document agreed upon by world leaders. Extremely sensitive issues such as proposals for limiting the veto in the Security Council, and criteria for composition of the Human Rights Commission, have been discussed. A major obstacle is the U.S. administration in the person of John Bolton, assigned the task of opposing the moral and practical influence of the UN. He undermined the patiently acquired momentum for consensus. He aims to rewrite the document with innumerable changes. This tactic ignores the U.S.government's commitment signed onto in 2000. The purpose is to oppose many economic, social and environmental priorites of other nations. These last minute manoeuvers are an attempt to sabotage global efforts to alleviate poverty and disease, to bring fairness to trade and aid, and deny any response to the problems of the environment and global warming.

The U.S opposes the International Criminal Court, an attempt to bring agreed upon law to the world's worst abuses. The U.S. government resists dismantling the nuclear powers' arsenals, while at the same time opposing nuclear proliferation. The U.S. government objects to the creation of a standing UN peacekeeping on the ready, created by participating governments and remaining under their command.

In all these areas, the US is trying to dominate the agenda. The future promises to be a rough ride.

How well are we doing on the Millennium goals? A few points for overview: Goal-- to halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day, and halve those who suffer from hunger. During the 1990's extreme poverty dropped in much of Asia, changed little in Latin America, the Caribbean and northern Africa, worsened in sub-Sahara Africa, where poverty is now almost 50%. Much of the reductions come from progress in China and India.

Goal--to achieve universal primary education. There has been much progress in this area. In five regions 90% or more children are enrolled in primary school. Sub-Sahara has made some progress, but still over a third of its children are out of school. Progress is lagging now in some areas where improvement had begun.

Child mortality has dropped, but progress has slowed. There was improvement in gender equality, but progress is uneven. Malaria, a worldwide disease is being combatted more effectively, as is tuberculosis with a new treatment strategy.