What is Global Ethics Day? Held every October, it provides an opportunity for organizations around the world to hold events for people to explore the crucial role of ethics in their professions and their daily lives, each in their own way.
"Ethics is about choice. What values guide us? What standards do we use? What principles are at stake and how do we choose between them? These are questions that affect all of us every day," said Joel Rosenthal, president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. "We launched Global Ethics Day in 2014 hoping that it would start a movement, so we're delighted to see so many events taking part on or around October 17."
This year Carnegie Council is proud to partner with ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and CFA Institute to produce an ongoing series of videos called "Ethics in Business: In Their Own Words," which will feature a number of global CEOs, including Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA and Paul Smith, president and CEO of CFA Institute. These videos will be rolled out in the run-up Global Ethics Day and in the months ahead. ACCA and CFA Institute are also holding "follow the sun" events across the world, while Carnegie Council is releasing short videos on ethics from senior staff and affiliates.
Global Ethics Day activities are too numerous to mention, but here are a few: activities to raise girls' self-esteem in Nigeria; a movie screening and panel discussion in Poland in memory of Kofi Annan; a conference on journalism, ethics, and fake news in Venezuela; and talks and debates on college campuses across the United States and elsewhere. For the full list and comments from the participants, go to https://globalethicsday.org/global-ethics-day-2018/.
"Last year many people participated on social media by posting about their events. We especially enjoyed the many selfies with Global Ethics Day signs featuring answers to questions such as 'What is the most pressing ethical issue today?'" said Madeleine Lynn, Carnegie Council director of communications. "We encourage everyone to go to https://globalethicsday.org/ where you can print out a variety of signs and also post your photos. From all of us at Carnegie Council, thank you for taking the time to focus on ethics."
