Developments in life-sciences, medicine and biotechnology have led to new ways of treating, preventing and even curing human diseases. These rapid advancements have raised some complex ethical and safety issues that require us to reexamine our traditional moral views. Matters are additionally complicated by the moral dilemmas which characterize some recent developments: cloning, reproductive technologies, regenerative medicine, and gene therapy, among others.

As the impact of these advancements on individuals, communities, and societies grows, so too does the importance of bioethics, a field which emerged about fifty years ago. Through both a theoretical and a practical endeavor, bioethics allows us to discuss and understand our deep moral concerns, fears and hopes regarding the impact of medical sciences and biotechnological advancements on our lives.

Global Bioethics Initiative (GBI) is a 501(c)(3) international, non-profit organization co-founded in 2011 by Ana Lita, Ph.D. and Charles Debrovner, M.D. GBI is dedicated to fostering public awareness and understanding of bioethical issues, and to exploring solutions to bioethical challenges. Through its events and activities, GBI seeks to keep the international community, policy decision-makers, the media, and the general public informed and aware of important bioethical issues. Such awareness is essential for making informed decisions and fostering public debate. It is through such debate that old practices and beliefs are challenged, and new social norms are formed. Using various platforms, we at GBI are able to promote our motto “Doing bioethics in real life!”

GBI is associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI), since December 2014. DPI aims at facilitating the exchange of information and the development of partnerships within the UN as well as with nonprofit organizations around the world. Many of the issues addressed by GBI, including reproductive rights, human organ trafficking, and the ethics of population aging, are important to other United Nations and United Nations-affiliated agencies.

GBI is also a member of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in furthering the realization of the purposes and mandate of the organization through activities and research in shared culture of intellectual social responsibility.

The Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations nominated Global Bioethics Initiative for Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nation’s central platform for debate, reflection, and innovative thinking on sustainable development. GBI is one of only a few organizations to receive such a status. In this capacity, GBI will be able to offer policy recommendations directly to those who craft and initiate legislation and participate in intergovernmental meetings of the United Nations.