Ethics in science and technology: a new culture of public dialogue
Recommendation 2176
(2020)
Author(s):
Parliamentary Assembly
Origin
Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 15 September 2020 (see Doc. 15117, report of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education
and Media, rapporteur: Mr Stefan Schennach).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, referring
to its Resolution 2333
(2020) “Ethics in science and technology: a new culture
of public dialogue”, underlines that democratic governance requires
citizen involvement in decisions which have a crucial impact on
society and individual lives. In this respect, the need for public
debate and appropriate consultation is clearly stated as a principle
in Article 28 of the Convention for the protection of Human Rights
and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of
Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
(ETS No. 164, Oviedo Convention). The Assembly welcomes the adoption
by the Council of Europe Bioethics Committee (DH-BIO) of the “Guide
to public debate on human rights and biomedicine” and
considers that its principles could be extended to applications
of converging technologies beyond the biomedical field.
2. The Covid-19 pandemic has stressed, in a dramatic manner,
a number of structural weaknesses in our societies. There is a need
not only to recover from the crisis, but also to rebuild more resilient
and sustainable European societies. The Council of Europe must uphold
human rights and democratic values and ensure that the crisis does
not become an excuse to threaten them. However, the Organisation
must also assist member States to strengthen the culture of public
dialogue and to develop the capacities of young people and the wider public
to analyse different options for a sustainable functioning of European
societies.
3. Accordingly, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers, through its relevant committees and groups of experts:
3.1 widely promote the “Guide to
public debate on human rights and biomedicine” in the member States
and, in co-operation with the European Union, seek to assist national
authorities, particularly in central and eastern Europe, to implement
the principles it enshrines;
3.2 as part of education for democratic citizenship, encourage
member States to include debate on scientific and technological
developments and ethical considerations in the school curricula,
in terms of regular practice to cultivate dialogue and to develop
the ability to understand and analyse complex matters;
3.3 in co-operation with the European Union, consider initiating
pilot projects on the use of specialised tools for online public
debate which also have the potential to make cross-national and multilingual
public debates feasible.
