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Daily Press Briefing Statements made by [Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.] CLONING
During their Berlin meeting on June 21, Mr. Joschka Fischer and Mr. Hubert Védrine decided to take an immediate initiative on the question of human cloning in order to establish its unacceptability as a practice contrary to human dignity, and to enshrine its prohibition in a universal legal instrument.
The two Foreign Ministers announced France and Germany's intention to launch a joint United Nations initiative for this purpose.
On August 7, France and Germany's permanent delegations submitted a request to the U.N. Secretary General to include this topic on the agenda of the 56th Session of the General Assembly next month in New York, so that negotiations could begin on a universal convention banning human cloning for reproductive purposes. Indeed, this is a question with repercussions for all of humanity. The U.N. is thus the appropriate forum. While developments in the life sciences offer very promising prospects for improving individual and collective health, it is also necessary, given the speed of such scientific developments, to take the necessary measures to protect ourselves from the perils of a slippery slope that would have unpredictable consequences for humanity.
This convention should enshrine the principles asserted by the Universal Declaration of the Human Genome and Human Rights adopted by UNESCO in 1997, which was ratified on December 9, 1998, as the result of a French initiative. The text is a major reference for current debates on bioethics. Specialized institutions, and particularly the World Health Organization as well as UNESCO, should also be called upon to help with the elaboration of this convention. Likewise, it might be a good idea to involve a group of independent experts recommended by the Human Rights Commission to follow up on the UNESCO declaration. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights would also be involved.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri's August 1 signature of a decree extending the jurisdiction of the ad hoc Tribunal on Human Rights Violations in East Timor, established by the National Assembly last March, to crimes committed in East Timor before the August 1999 vote on independence, is a very positive step.
Indeed, for both the Timorese people and the international community, this decree is an encouraging signal of the new Indonesian administration's support for the fight against impunity and the reconciliation between Indonesia and East Timor./.
Embassy of France, August 8, 2001
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