Through the Portal, everyone can now access direct and free of charge, four databases covering the fields of bioethics, environmental ethics, science ethics and technology ethics.

In addition to a Who’s Who listing contact details of experts in each of these fields, the Observatory user will be able to consult ethics-related listings of institutions, teaching programmes, legislation, and rules and regulations, collected from UNESCO’s Member States. These databases are the first such resource on ethics activities around the world.

At its launching in Japan, three of the four databases – those covering experts, institutions and ethics teaching programmes – were presented. The fourth database – legislation, rules and regulations – will be online at a later stage. Although initially accessible in just a few languages, the Observatory will eventually be available in UNESCO’s six official languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese.