International Declaration on Human Genetic Data (2003)

The International Declaration on Human Genetic Data (2003) was adopted unanimously and by acclamation at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 32nd General Conference on 16 October 2003.  This document began several years before the Human Genome Project drew to an end. [1, 2]

With the rapidly developing field of genomic research and increasing speed with which to sequence genomes, many people fear that human genetic data will be used for purposes contrary to human rights and freedom. Governments, non-governmental organizations, the intellectual community and society in general are calling for guidelines at the international level.

This Declaration and the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997) are the only international points of reference in the field of biological-ethics.