10/09/2022
The COPAB Research Centers and the development of an ethical and bioethical conscience of the African man
Dr. Effa Ateba Victor Joseph Steve (Cameroon)
IFT member
Scientific Secretariat of COPAB/CERB
CSB corresponding Member
General Introduction
For the African movement of ethics and bioethics, the African man retains in his collective memory atavistic these episodes of gestation of the human race and combat for the preservation of life and the perpetuation of the human species. It is indeed a question of watering the sources of African values, these having allowed the birth of the first humans and the first civilizations, then led mankind in the conquest of life in the whole space of the planet and Contributed to the survival of the African man throughout his history to all kinds of calamities of endogenous or exogenous origin.
Our topic is about research. We must dwell with enthusiasm and admiration on the formidable and prodigious results of the mastery of science and technology over the last five centuries, and much more, with regard to bioethics, the last fifty Years.
The history of the peoples teaches we were practically at the same stage of social organization and technical progress, at the time of the outbreak of this socio-economic and cultural tsunami that was the modern times (from 1492 to nowadays). Thus, in recent centuries, the African continent has having been emptied of its lively forces, and the African populations are lagging behind the changes in their societies. However, with its political independence, cultural revival and the return of its demography, Africa has begun to rebuild itself. The mission of the international ethical and bioethics movement is precisely to generate the conditions of scientific and technological development lacking the conditionality’s of exploitation of the other and of submission, but rather producing the Spaces of freedom and dialogue to guarantee progress and respect for human dignity.
The disparity in the initiatives and strategies for the formulation of Community directives for individual and community well-being according to geographical areas, and according to cultures, has enabled the elaboration of the fundamental texts in bioethics:
- African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in 1981.
-The Belmont Report for North America in 1978.
-The Convention on Biomedicine and Human rights, known as the Oviedo
Convention for the Council of Europe in 1997.
-The Helsinki Code for the World medical community,
-UNESCO has produced the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human rights for the member countries of the United Nations.
Africa, strong in its anthropological, geographical, historical and cultural specificities, has benefited from the work of its sons and daughters in the African movement of ethics and bioethics, and the commitment of the Heads of State and Government of Africa. The Bioethics Summit of the Conference of African Heads of State, at the 32nd OAU summit in Yaoundé on 10 July 1996, was the occasion for the signing of resolution No. AHG/RES. 254 (###II) on bioethics and the Development of Africa. This resolution clearly indicates the direction given to the movement by African Leadership. So bioethics in Africa is the strategy of promoting the protection of life and living together, to guarantee development and peace. The resolution of the OAU Summit Conference will have laid the sociological, political and legal foundations of the international ethical movement in Africa.
Research involves Engineering, Technology, mathematics, physics, Chemistry, Biology, medicine, information science... as well as the human and social sciences (sociology, history, anthropology, bioethics, ethics, economics, Geography, Demography, linguistics, semiology, psychology, arts and letters, political science, ...).
Research in Africa at the institutional level is organized by the African Conference of the Ministries of Scientific and Technological Research (AMCOST), an organ of the African Union (AU).
Nonetheless, each country and each regional Economic Community (North Africa/MAGHREB [UMA], Sahel-Sahara states [CEN-SAD], East Africa [EAC], West Africa [ECOWAS], Central Africa [ECCAS/CEMAC], Southern and eastern Africa [COMESA + SADC]) has its own organization at the level of research. The AMCOST is the body responsible for evaluating the orientations of research in Africa for submission and adoption by the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the AU states, which represents the supreme organ of the AU. The Conference meets once a year and adopts decisions by consensus or by a two-thirds majority (2/3).
At the level of the AU Commission, the AMCOST relay body is the HRST Commission (Human Resources, Science and Technology Commission).
AU has developed as major axes for research:
- human rights and conflict prevention;
-HIV/AIDS research;
-The role of the African Diaspora in the development of the African continent;
-Ethics, bioethics, the African cultural renaissance.
The objectives of research in Africa are :
-Coordination within the same state, and from one state to another.
-Coordination within the same region, and from one region to another.
-Coordination at the continental level.
-Institutionalizing the research bodies to have the capacity of documentation and
the means of scientific investigation.
-Confidentiality of research for the protection of scientific and technical patents in Africa.
-financing of the appropriate scientific development policy. Example: 10% of the national budget devoted to health, 10% devoted to agriculture, 5% devoted to scientific research.
-International cooperation with international partners: the African Diaspora, the
United States, Japan, China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, India, North America, Central and South America, the European Union (EU), Asia, Australasia and Oceania,
Aim of research in Africa
Man has always wanted to understand the world and the society in which he lives. Scientific research has been trying to respond to this need. Research first has a cultural dimension: to know and understand nature, but as it makes possible, even in its most fundamental aspects, the mastery of this nature, it is also, in fact, an issue of power. Science and technology have provoked profound mutations in our societies: by changing our worldview and ways of life, they have become essential components of human activity in modern societies. The emergence of research and technology policies, since the Second World War, reflects the realization of this reality.
"Moral assessments and scientific research must grow together and charity must animate them into a harmonious interdisciplinary ensemble, made of unity and distinction." Faith, Theology, metaphysics and science find their place by collaborating in the service of man.
Among the causes of underdevelopment, there is a lack of wisdom, reflection, thought capable of achieving a guiding synthesis, for which "a clear vision of all economic, social, cultural and spiritual aspects" is required. The excessive fragmentation of knowledge, the closure of the human sciences to metaphysics, the difficulties of dialogue between science and theology are detrimental not only to the development of knowledge, but also to the development of peoples because, when This is verified, it becomes more difficult to distinguish the integral good of man in the different dimensions that characterize him. The "broadening of our conception and use of reason" is indispensable to succeed in adequately weighing all the terms of the question of development and the solution of socio-economic problems".
United Nations International cooperation and research in Africa
Peace, justice and security in Africa are the primary responsibility of African leaders, with the support of the international community.
The sustainable economic, cultural and social development of the African people is a major goal in terms of peace, security and conflict prevention.
The illegal exploitation of natural resources and the illicit trafficking of natural resources must become a major international concern, to avoid the financing of wars and mass exodus of populations.
The AU needs to strengthen its peacekeeping and leadership capacity in conflict resolution and armed conflict operations. The international community must increase its support to the AU against tax evasion, the evasion of public capital, brain drain and migration.
The AU must strengthen the role of women and the Diaspora in the governance of public affairs at the level of the African continent.
The AU must be able to present and represent to the world the universal African vision of the fundamental values of life and human dignity.
International cooperation among peoples must be oriented towards the preservation of peace, justice, and not the elimination of enemies and the search for personal interests. For this, arms trade reduction and denuclearization processes must be the priority of all Heads of State and governments.
Technology is the source of many environmental and social problems, but it is also essential for combating environmental degradation, climate change, food scarcity, waste management and a host of other modern challenges.
For example, technologies used to treat waste help solve environmental problems, while refrigeration and air-conditioning systems that use ozone-depleting refrigerants have enormous environmental impacts. The speed at which human society responds to these and other challenges depends largely on the pace and scale at which advanced technology moves lower technology in different global contexts.
The United Nations, through the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) promotes in Africa a green economy, sustainable development and biosecurity (reducing the disadvantages of biotechnology on biodiversity and health). The 17 United Nations goals for global sustainable development by 2030 are: 1. Eradicate poverty; 2. Eradicate hunger; 3. Health and well-being; 4. Quality education; 5. Equality between the sexes; 6. Clean water and sanitation; 7. Clean energy and lower cost; 8. Decent work and economic growth; 9. Industry, innovation, infrastructure; 10. Reduction of inequalities; 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities; 12. Consumption and responsible production; 13. Fight against climate change; 14. Respect for life in the seas and oceans; 15. Respect for Life on Earth; 16. Peace, justice and strong institutions; 17. Partnership for the achievement of objectives.
Institutionalization of Ethics and Bioethics in Africa
The setting up of COPAB as the Ethics Network of the AU in charge of Bioethics, is a continuation of the 32nd OAU / AU Bioethics Summit in July 1996 in Yaounde. COPAB is thus the tool for implementing this resolution of the Heads of State and Government No. AHG / Res. 254 on Bioethics and African Development. The said resolution enshrines the institutionalization of the MAEB (African Movement for Ethics and Bioethics), lays the legal, sociological and political foundations of the African Movement for Ethics and Bioethics. COPAB is a prominent place of gathering and dialogue of all the actors of the vast field of the defense and the protection of the life, the Human rights and the Development of Africa.
COPAB General Assembly is made up of the Delegates of the following institutions: The AU Member States, the Pan African Parliament, the National Institutions of African Civil Society (doctors, pharmacists lawyers, academics, etc.), major national religious organizations.
COPAB has a Scientific Commission that brings together research units and a space for expert debate: African Platforms for Ethics. The General Assembly elects the Executive Committee. The latter sits as the Consultative Committee of African Ethics within the AU. Another activity of COPAB in addition to the statutory requirements is the animation and the coordination of the evaluation of the ethical clearance with the member countries of the African Union.
Other activities: the ethical activities of UNESCO such as those of the International Bioethics Committee, the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee, the World Commission on Ethics, Scientific Knowledge and Technology; the ethical activities of the European Union such as the Ethics Group of the European Commission.
The organization of the Continental Workshop on African Platforms of Ethics and COPAB Congresses will allow to go further in the implementation of an Integral Ethics Area throughout the African continent.
COPAB will organize an Ethics Workshop in each African region to set up a Regional Ethics Forum. Each Regional Forum will prepare for participation in the Continental Workshop on African Ethical Platforms and the COPAB Congress. The Executive Secretariat of COPAB is responsible for producing each year a Report on the State of Ethics and Bioethics Africa, as a summary of the activities of COPAB Scientific Commission and a general analysis of the evolution of African societies, by proposing appropriate guidelines for the attention of the leaders of the Continent and the International Community.
Conclusion
For the relative needs of Africa, the Pan African Congress of Ethics and Bioethics (COPAB) has, in turn, designed the Protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on Ethics and bioethics.
This Protocol, which takes into account the shared values of African humanism, is based on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the African Cultural Renaissance Charter.
According to their visions and priorities, communities have opted for a definition of bioethics that is consistent with their perception of well-being. The essence of the African paradigm is the Ankh, that is, life according to its definition in Ancient Egypt: life-which-does-not-die. For African scientists, this perception of Life has become the goal, the end of all human investment. Thus bioethics in Africa is the strategy of promoting the protection of life and living together, to guarantee the development of progress and peace. The appointment of COPAB as technical partner of the AU Commission on Bioethics and Development Ethics is the result of the validation of the proposed program.
This program is based on the shared values of African humanism, the tools developed, the institutions and the organization of ethics, particularly in Africa. The tools developed are essentially the Protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on Ethics and Bioethics as a Pan-African directive, and especially its national declination named: Model Law on the Code of Ethics and Bioethics, available to all member states of the African Union for the purpose of enabling them to draw up ethical guidelines for each of the sectors of activity. The ethics and bioethics platforms, the places of speech and research for the resolution of the dilemmas that would arise, with the addition of the provision of appropriate regulatory text in relation to this dilemma, and training in its implementation of said text in various communities; The Ethics Forum, which is the assembly of all the representatives of the socio-professional, public and private sectors and the continental forces within the Commission as a deliberative body for ethical evaluations, this institution is a regional forum within the Regional Economic Communities and in the National Forum in the Member States.
All these bodies are the pan-African system of certification in ethical evaluation.
The program presented above constitutes the ethics watch system throughout the African continent. This watch concerns all the activities of social life. In its functional phase, this system defines what is called the Integrated Ethical Space in Africa. This operation is still Africa's development challenge, which is moving forward unabated, with a view to implementing the African Union Vision 2063 and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The program presented above constitutes the ethics watch system throughout the African continent. This watch concerns all the activities of social life. In its functional phase, this system defines what is called the Integrated Ethical Space in Africa. This operation is still Africa's development challenge, which is moving forward unabated, with a view to implementing the African Union Vision 2063 and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
