Human Clones and International Human Rights

Kerry MacIntosh

Abstract

The United Nations Declaration on Human Cloning calls upon member states to prohibit all forms of human cloning. However, the Declaration is nonbinding and will not put a stop to cloning around the world. Scientists will continue to clone embryos in their quest to develop stem cell therapies, ultimately, their work will facilitate the birth of human clones.;Once born, human clones will be entitled to all of the rights and freedoms enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), without distinction based on their birth via asexual reproduction or status as human clones.;Article 26 of the ICCPR prohibits laws that discriminate against human clones based on their birth or status. Anti-cloning laws violate this prohibition. The laws have a discriminatory purpose: they are an attempt to stop the birth of human clones. The laws also have a discriminatory effect: human clones will lose their parents to prison and be stigmatized as subhuman duplicates who are unworthy of existence.;Therefore, the U.N. Declaration on Human Cloning, which calls for the enactment of these discriminatory laws, is inconsistent with international human rights and should be rescinded.

Recommended Citation

Kerry MacIntosh, Human Clones and International Human Rights, 4 Santa Clara J. Int'l L. 134 (2006).

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil/vol4/iss2/3

I believe this citation, taken further, would buttress the stance that clones can and should be held responsible for crimes the ‘donor of origin’ committed because the ‘cell set’ used to clone had committed those crimes.

A twin has similar or identical DNA but different cell sets.