Consentensed to consent: DNA-testing ethics and migration

Summary: Since the late 1990’s there as been an ongoing debate in many countries concerning the ethical justification of using DNA-testing in connection with applications of family reunification. Several countries (among others Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, the UK and New Zealand) have already implemented this new technology as a tool to provide proof of biological family relationships and in some of these countries this practice is already regulated by specific legislation (e.g. in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and France) while other countries is in the process of discussing whether such legislation is warranted or not.

Specific goals and objectives: There are many reasons why an ethical analysis of current legislation and practices in Europe with regard to using DNA-testing in connection with applications of family reunification should be carried out. The present project aims at focusing the attention on three such reasons:

a) Whether reference to the principle of the principle of free and informed consent in current regulations is justified.
b) Whether current regulations comply with the principles of justice and non-discrimination set out in international declarations of bioethis and human rights an
c) Whether these practices will lead to a genetification of the concept of family.