DNA Sampling Law Kuwait Lawyers
Kuwait Lawyers have filed a suit against the only law in the world which forces common citizens to submit their DNA samples to the Kuwait government.
As reports suggest, DNA testing will be starting soon in few weeks. For public knowledge, this law was passed in July last year.
According to the Kuwait government, this law is required to battle terrorism.
Adel AbdulHadi of the Kuwaiti law firm Adel AbdulHadi & Partners and his colleagues started researching and formulated their challenge in this after it was passed in July last year.
Arguments by Abel AbdulHadi
- “The principal argument is that this law stands in violation of privacy and human rights provisions in the country’s own constitution and also those contained in International Treaties to which Kuwait is a signatory.”
- “Forcing every citizen, resident and visitor to submit a DNA sample to the government is similar to search a house without a warrant. Our Body is more sacred than houses.”
- He also says that according to the law every individual would be seen as a suspect until proven innocent.
- “Also, terrorism is in the mindset of the person and you can’t combat it by restricting the privacy of the people. I don’t think that it will anyway help in countering terrorism.”
The government has already begun to enact this law and collecting samples from those who are suspected to have falsely claimed Kuwaiti nationality including members of police and military.
From this November, all Kuwaitis who wished to renew their passports will have to submite DNA samples, while the Kuwaiti embassies all over the world have been told to notify visitors that they will also have to submit DNA sample while arriving in the country. They also might equip all borders to implement the law from this november.
This challenge has been personally objected by the lawyers and funded by themselves only.
Abel AbdulHadi says, “As a person subject to this law, its my personal decision with my law partners to launch this challenge”
Combating Terrorism
This law was passed after a bombing in Kuwait which killed 27 people last year. But critics have shown complete disagreement to this.
“A bit of DNA sample is not going to scare a suicide bomber who wants to come into the country”, says Martina Cornel, at the European Society for Human Genetics. “Also presence of DNA at a specific place justifies the presence of the person but doesn’t justify whether he/she committed the crime.”
Another concern is that the DNA samples could be used for many other purposes like
- To identify illegal immigrants
- Determining paternity in a country where adultery is punishable offence, However the Kuwaiti government is assuring that it will not be used for such purposes.
Derek Scholes, of the American Society for Human Genetics find this mandatory requirement concerning, “Whether for research, clinical or any other purpose, disclosure of such private information should be entirely voluntary.”