Can the body be sold?

January 15, 2008 in News

slieile_debate.pngCan the body be sold? Prostitution, trafficking and llegal adoption of children and other abuses to our bodies are the subject of Slí Eile’s January debate that is to be held Tuesday 22 January 2008 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Pauline Conroy, social policy analyst., and the venue The Belvedere, Great Denmark Street, Dublin 1. Among the questions that will be discussed will be: Are we aware that our bodies are gift, to be respected and preserved, temples and gifts? Generally speaking, we do not respect our body and consequently it is easily considered as mere merchandise. Prostitution, trafficking of human beings and organs, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals that test vaccines illegally, unlawful adoption of children, drug consummation, etc… are different ways of abusing our bodies and our integrity as human beings.

Pauline Conroy is a social policy analyst and director of the research and design company Ralaheen Ltd. She is a social science graduate of University College Dublin and the London School of Economics and is a research associate at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Pauline has been involved in training for the Department of Education and Science on both individual and group sessions for Inspectors. She has been an advisor on employment matters with Local Government Management Services Board. She has worked as an expert with the Council of Europe and the European Commission on the development of social policy and on equality and equity themes related to employment and disadvantage. She is co-author of The Effective Recruitment of People with Disabilities into the Public Service (2001) for the Equality Authority. Dr Conroy has been a member of the Department of Health and Children specialist study group on sheltered employment and training and is on the panel of the Mental Health Review Tribunals.