Kuwait introduced Law No. 78/2015 in response to a 2015 suicide bombing at a mosque that killed 27 people and wounded 227 others. It mandated that all Kuwaiti citizens, foreign residents, and visitors would be required to submit DNA samples, and imposed a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 Kuwaiti Dinars ($33,000 USD) for anyone who refused. The legislation, known as the DNA Law, was conceived to protect the country’s citizens, but it did not last long. In 2017, Kuwait's high court ruled that the law violated the articles of Kuwait’s constitution that protect personal liberty and privacy. The ruling was deemed final, without the possibility of appeal.
Too broad and too invasive:
- “The law was an overly broad cudgel that lacked basic safeguards or restrictions, and opened the door to government abuses,” explained Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
- DNA collection databases are not inherently illegal and can be effective investigative tools, rights advocates say, but they must be closely regulated, narrow in scope, and meet a legitimate security goal.
- If the law had been fully enacted, Kuwait would have been the first country in the world to require compulsory collection of DNA samples from all of its citizens.