Use of DNA Identification in Human Rights Work to Reunite Families in L atin A merica

Abstract

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) identification serves many purposes, including the preservation and defence of human rights. In Argentina, a military dictatorship disappeared 30 000 dissidents, including 500 babies born in captivity and, after their mothers' assassination, were appropriated by families associated with the repression. After return to democracy, search, localisation, DNA identification and family reunification were state policies and so far 120 individuals had their identity restituted and families reunited. When after a gruesome civil war in El Salvador caused 75 000 deaths and hundreds of missing children, a DNA database of families with disappeared children was developed and DNA testing of hundreds of people with unknown identity lead to identification and reunification of 265 youngsters with their families. In Brazil, DNA identification of hundreds of individuals who were stranded from their relatives during compulsory isolation of patients with leprosy in Brazil, identified 158 pairs of individuals who did not have know they were siblings. In conclusion, the use of DNA identification as a tool to redress and repair human rights violations is a novel and valuable application of human genetics. Key Concepts DNA technology by itself is not good or bad; its ethics depends on the objectives for which it is used and the voluntary consent on those to whom it is applied. Forced disappearance and abduction of children with suppression of their identity are crimes against humanity. International law of human rights obligates states to solve crimes against humanity, find and prosecute perpetrators and provide reparations to victims. While in general genetic tests should be voluntary, according to international law of human rights, they could be imposed to a nonconsenting individual if needed to solve a crime against humanity. The right to know the truth about one's own identity should guide DNA identification. The use of DNA identification for the defence of human rights should be protected by the state.

Genetic testing to restore the human right to identity in post‐dictatorship Argentina: Ethical, legal, and social issues

“…The Argentinian experience has served as a model of action in additional countries that were transitioning in the 1980s and 1990s from dictatorship to democracy, as well as in war conflicts, in which forensic anthropologists and geneticists applied their science in defense of human rights, and particularly of the right to identity and collective memory (Steadman & Haglund, 2005). Examples include Guatemala (Fundaci on de Antropología Forense de Guatemala, 2020), former Yugoslavia (Huffine, Crews, & Davoren, 2007;Ladika, 2001), and El Salvador (Penchaszadeh, 2016). These experiences were acknowledged by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009, which issued a resolution encouraging all countries to use forensic genetics in cases of serious violations of human rights (United Nations, 2009).…”

Prioritising family members for genotyping in missing person cases: A general approach combining the statistical power of exclusion and inclusion

“…The examples we present are based on current unsolved cases provided by BNDG. For historical background about the missing grandchildren of Argentina and similar cases from other Latin American countries, we refer to [7][8][9]. Large-scale cases of the same kind from other parts of the world include those reported in [5,10].…”

Using already-solved cases of a mass disaster event for prioritizing the search among remaining victims: a Bayesian approach

“…Their unidentified bodies were buried in individual or common graves either within official cemeteries or in clandestine mass graves at military or police compounds. Even today, the fate of most of those disappeared people's remains is still unknown 1 . Missing people have come to be known as "The Disappeared".…”