A
UN human rights watchdog called on Kuwait on Friday to amend a
counter-terrorism law requiring nationwide compulsory DNA testing, saying that
it was disproportionate and violated the right to privacy.
Any
testing should be limited to individuals suspected of having committed serious
crimes and only after a court order, the 18 independent experts said after
reviewing Kuwait’s record in upholding civil and political rights.
In
July 2015, Kuwait’s parliament adopted a law put forward by the Interior
Ministry to create a DNA registry of Kuwaiti nationals and residents living in
the Gulf state. The law, which the panel said also applied to tourists, imposes
a one-year prison term and a fine on those who refused to provide samples.
The
law “imposes unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the right to
privacy”, the UN Human Rights Committee said.
“We
… asked them to amend it to ensure that DNA collection is limited, only on
the basis of individuals suspected of having committed serious crimes and on
the basis of a court order,” panel member Sarah Cleveland told a news
briefing.
“Part
of the reason the committee is very concerned about it is because of the
prospect of copycat laws by other countries,” she said. “It’s
certainly the first time our committee has seen such a law.”
Jamal
Alghunaim, Kuwait’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva who led the
government delegation, told the panel last month that the law was due to
terrorist threats. The database could not be disclosed without a necessary
court warrant and anyone who did so would be sentenced to three years of
prison, he said, according to a UN summary.
A
year ago Kuwait, home to several US military bases, suffered its deadliest
militant attack in decades when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself up inside a
packed Shi’ite mosque, killing 27 people. ISIL claimed responsibility.
OPEC
member Kuwait, a US ally and neighbour of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, is part of a
34-nation alliance announced by Riyadh in December aimed at countering ISIL and
al Qaeda in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan.
State
news agency KUNA said this month Kuwait foiled three planned ISIL attacks on
the country, including a plot to blow up a Shi’ite mosque, after launching
raids that resulted in the arrest of militants.
Follow us on
