Respect for Vulnerability is a Human Right: Article 8 of the UNESCO Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights; and Senior Citizens in South Africa

It is untrue that the elderly in South Africa (SA) are probably discriminated against in healthcare as the result of inadequate legislation that does not conform to international standards. The National Health Act recognises vulnerability and gives expression to it. Respect for vulnerability has not yet been introduced to fundamental political and bioethical frames of reference in SA and that is probably the reason why the concept and right have not become part of the ethical awareness in healthcare. The appeal of this article is that respect for vulnerability must be brought to conform to the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights by declaring the ethical principle as an independent human right

Protection of Children by Substitute Consent: A Universal Principle and Right

In 2005; the world community and the United Nations Educational; Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); comprising 191 member nations; unanimously accepted the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR). This declaration is the first and only bioethical text to which the entire world has committed itself and helps put bioethics on the agenda of states. However; it appears to have had little or no impact in South Africa (SA). This article aims to join UNESCO's mission and to form part of the social responsibility initiative of teaching the universal right and the ethical principle of proxy consent in the context of medical intervention to promote the UDBHR in SA. We compare the UDBHR and SA Children's Act No. 38 of 2005. It is clear that the world community sees surrogate consent as the right and duty of all communities