CBEC faculty at the World Congress of Bioethics in Doha, Qatar along with Dr. Mohammed Ghaly, Chairperson of the WCB (standing, fourth from the left). Other delegates from Pakistan can also be seen in the photograph.
WORLD CONGRESS OF BIOETHICS, QATAR, JUNE 3-6, 2024
Since 1992, the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) organizes a biennial World Congress of Bioethics (WCB) in different countries. This provides a global forum for exchange of ideas and networking between those involved in education and research in bioethics and related fields.
This year, the 14th WCB was hosted by Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) at the Hammad Bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar. The conference theme was “Religion, Culture, and Global Bioethics.” One of the main organizers and the Chairperson of the WCB, was Dr. Mohammad Ghaly, Professor at CILE.
The 2024 conference marked a historic occasion as it was the first time the WCB was held in the Middle East, and in a Muslim Arab country. This IAB decision in 2022 sparked a debate among bioethicists globally with concerns raised about Qatar’s human rights record and its stance on certain bioethical issues including laws related to the LGBTQ community. Many however, defended the choice, arguing that the conference’s location in Qatar would foster engagement with a cultural ly diverse audience from Asian and African countries.
The Doha WCB was widely attended, providing a vibrant platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration. A notable characteristic of the conference was an effort to bring religion into the bioethical discourse. There were rich discussions on ethics of research on the genome and concerns associated with artifical intelligence technologies.
During the conference, CBEC faculty was actively involved in workshops, panel discussions, and oral presentations. Dr. Moazam also delivered a keynote address titled “Doing Bioethics in Pakistan,” where she used local case studies to illustrate the sociocultural nuanc es and ethical challenges in Pakistani clinical practice.