In the 1970s ‘bioethics’ emerged as a new interdisciplinary discourse on medicine, health care and medical technologies, primarily in Western, developed countries. The main focus was on how individual patients could be empowered to cope with the challenges of science and technology. Since the 1990s, the main source of bioethical problems is the process of globalization, particularly neoliberal market ideology creating a new type of global bioethical issues. Faced with new challenges such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, hunger, pandemics and organ trafficking the bioethical discourse of empowering individuals is no longer sufficient. Global bioethics nowadays is concerned with applying and implementing a universal ethical framework, however at the same time it needs to recognize cultural diversity and different local moral traditions. The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights present a useful framework for addressing global issues while at the same time articulating and interpreting the application of this framework in specific settings and contexts.