The ethics of knowledge production- Pacific challenges

Abstract

People from all over the Pacific came to talk about ethical principles relating to the preservation, production, exchange and use of knowledge at the Regional Pacific Ethics of Knowledge Production Workshop in Apia (13– 15 November 2007). This workshop was the third in a series of UNESCO meetings between 2005 and 2007 that encouraged Pacific-wide debate on the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) (UNESCO 2005) and discussion of ethics-related issues more generally. The articles in this Pacific section of the ISSJ on global knowledges are a sample of the positions debated and the insights generated at that workshop. They illustrate the connections and differences among Pacific peoples about issues relating to the ethics of science – including fundamental questions about what counts as knowledge, how knowledge is produced and shared, and who benefits. They also demonstrate how Pacific people are taking responsibility for assessing the relevance of the UDBHR in the Pacific, articulating indigenous ethical principles, identifying the researchrelated questions they consider a priority and determining strategies for ethical research practice.