DNA database and human rights
Kuwait plans to create a huge DNA database of residents and visitors of the country. Scientists are horrified
"It's like an idea from a bad science fiction novel. Kuwait plans to build a huge DNA database, which includes the genetic material of not only citizens of this state in the Persian Gulf, but also its other residents and even temporary visitors. Such a database will be the first in the world," Adam Taylor reports in The Washington Post (Kuwait plans to create a huge DNA database of residents and visitors. Scientists are appalled).
"It takes a huge effort to realize this idea," the article says. – This means that more than 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million expatriates will be entered into the database, as well as significantly more visitors to the country. The cost of the project is estimated at $ 400 million. Resistance will be severely punished. For refusing mandatory testing, you can get a year in prison or a fine of $ 33 thousand, and anyone caught providing fake samples will face seven years in prison. All this raises the question: why would anyone need all this DNA?"
"The Government of Kuwait says that the database can be used to fight terrorism and crime. The proposal was passed in July last year, just a week after a suicide bomber blew up a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City, killing 27 people and injuring many more. Later, the Saudi branch of the Islamic State took responsibility for the terrorist attack (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation. – Editor's note)," the publication reports. "We are at war," Kuwait's Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammed Khaled Al-Sabah said at the time.
However, since the law is not expected to be implemented soon, some academics and human rights groups have expressed doubts and called on the Kuwaiti government to rethink its plans. – This week in the New Scientist edition, geneticist Olaf Reiss said that this law is "a huge blow to the inviolability of genetic information," which could seriously cost Kuwait its international reputation."
"Mandatory DNA testing of citizens and visitors is like an Orwellian nightmare, but this is the new reality of a rich country in the Persian Gulf," Reiss writes.
"Several groups have asked Kuwait to change the law. The European Society of Human Genetics, of which Reiss is president, has also written a letter to the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers of Kuwait calling for a change in the law. The UN Human Rights Committee and the human rights group Human Rights Watch have also expressed concern and are asking Kuwait to change course," the article says.
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15.09.2016