Project description
Overview
Since the 1990s, many countries around the world have begun to use DNA analysis to establish biological relatedness in family reunification cases. Family reunification refers to the right of family members living abroad to join relatives who hold long-term residence permits in a given country. While this right has been an integral part of many countries’ immigration policies, the current trend among host countries seems to favour more restrictive family reunification policies. Many countries are imposing stricter requirements on those applying to enter the country, requiring them to provide official documentation to prove their identities. For a number of reasons providing such information is often difficult, but even if applicants possess the required documents, the information is sometimes rejected by immigration authorities as they question the authenticity of the documents. In this context, many countries resort to DNA analysis.
Although exact DNA usage rates are in most countries unavailable, there is evidence that the use of DNA analysis within the context of immigration is on the increase. Today, thirteen European nations have incorporated the use of DNA analysis into decision-making on immigration: Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland and Sweden. In 2000, Finland adopted DNA analysis for immigration purposes and developed specific guidelines and legal provisions to regulate this practice. While the use of genetic technologies for immigration is covered by the press in Germany, the issue remains largely unrecognised and is not a matter of dispute in Austria, neither political nor societal. The use of DNA analysis in the context of immigration raises serious concerns, though.
Legal aspects
In legal terms, it has to be guaranteed that the applicant’s right to the protection of privacy and the family is respected. A related issue is the question of data protection: how long is the genetic information stored, and what agencies have access to it? Problems might arise from the inherent biologisation of family that is promoted by such an approach. Only biological relatives are eligible for family reunification. This requirement of a biological link between family members is diametrically opposed to family recognition policies in most host countries, which emphasise social rather than genetic ties. With that, alternative forms of family are devalued and seen as secondary. Here we note an interesting paradox: it is precisely genetic and reproductive technologies that undermine the idea that parenthood is understood as a natural relationship founded on biological relations, since they make it possible to systematically distinguish between biological parents and those who rear and educate a child.
Ethical implications
DNA analysis for family reunification in the context of immigration policy also poses ethical questions, as this practice conflicts with the principles of privacy, informed consent and the right not to know, fundamental to the European discussion on DNA testing and the question of data protection. This implies that DNA tests must be absolutely voluntary, which clearly is not the case in DNA analysis for immigration purposes.
Project objectives
Despite the existence of important sources of error (like human errors in conducting the analysis or inaccurate test results because of genetic mutations), Immigration DNA analysis is now a common practice in many countries. Media coverage of the issue is quite extensive but research and scientific publications in this field are rare. The impact of genetics on immigration policies and family reunification still remains a scientific non-issue. To our knowledge, no empirical project until now has investigated different national regimes using genetic information for family reunification in a comparative perspective. Hence, the project can be understood as the first essential contribution to the analysis of this aspect of DNA analysis, which has not so far been an object of substantial academic interest.
