Nuremberg Code & Geneva Conventions: Ethical Standards
Nuremberg Code: Key Principles
August 20, 1947, Nuremberg, Germany.
The Nuremberg Code is a set of ethical principles for human experimentation created as a result of the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War. It emphasizes informed consent, the absence of coercion, scientifically valid research design, and beneficence towards experiment participants.
The ten points that constitute the Nuremberg Code are:
- Voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This means that the person involved should have the legal capacity to give consent; their situation must be such as to be capable of exercising free choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, or other forms of constraint or coercion; they should have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the elements involved, enabling them to make a reasonable and informed decision. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the benefit of society, not obtainable by other methods or means, and should not be random and unnecessary in nature.
- The experiment should be designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study so that previous results will justify the experiment.
- The experiment should be conducted so as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and harm.
- No experiment should be performed when there is an a priori reason to believe that death or a disabling injury may occur, except perhaps in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
- The degree of risk that has to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
- Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death.
Geneva Conventions: Key Principles
The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties designed to humanize war. They were established in different years; the first was in 1864, which was succeeded by three others in 1906, 1929, and 1949, respectively.
First Geneva Convention of 1864
Includes the Geneva Convention to improve the plight of the Wounded in Armies in the Field of 1864.
Second Geneva Convention of 1906
Includes the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick, or Shipwrecked in the armed forces at sea in 1906.
Third Geneva Convention of 1929
Comprises: Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field and the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of July 27, 1929.
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949
Comprises four conventions adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of International Conventions designed to protect victims of war in 1949. It entered into force on October 21, 1950, and contains:
- Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field.
- II Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea.
- Third Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
- Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.
Additional Protocols of 1977
- Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I).
- Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II).
The Geneva Conventions apply in times of war or armed conflict between those governments that have ratified their terms. The details of applicability are discussed in Common Articles 2 and 3.