European Court Rules on New Labour DNA Samples: Victory for UK’s Civil Liberties
News just in: the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the New Labour government’s de facto policy of keeping DNA samples of individuals who have been acquitted of any wrongdoing is in breach of the individuals’ fundamental right to respect for the private life. Here is an excerpt from the ruling:
“The Court noted that cellular samples [so-called DNA samples] contained much sensitive information about an individual, including information about his or her health. In addition, samples contained a unique genetic code of great relevance to both the individual concerned and his or her relatives. Given the nature and the amount of personal information contained in cellular samples, their retention per se had to be regarded as interfering with the right to respect for the private lives of the individuals concerned.
In the Court’s view, the capacity of DNA profiles to provide a means of identifying genetic relationships between individuals was in itself sufficient to conclude that their retention interfered with the right to the private life of those individuals. The possibility created by DNA profiles for drawing inferences about ethnic origin made their retention all the more sensitive and susceptible of affecting the right to private life.
The Court concluded that the retention of both cellular samples and DNA profiles amounted to an interference with the applicants’ right to respect for their private lives, within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention.
The applicants’ fingerprints were taken in the context of criminal proceedings and subsequently recorded on a nationwide database with the aim of being permanently kept and regularly processed by automated means for criminal-identification purposes. It was accepted that, because of the information they contain, the retention of cellular samples and DNA profiles had a more important impact on private life than the retention of fingerprints. However, the Court considered that fingerprints contain unique information about the individual concerned and their retention without his or her consent cannot be regarded as neutral or insignificant. The retention of fingerprints may thus in itself give rise to important private-life concerns and accordingly constituted an interference with the right to respect for private life.”(1)
Anyone interested in considering the implications of this decision may wish to read EcoLogics’ post titled ‘A Social Ecology of the Buccal Swab; or When Gattaca Came to the UK‘
Readers may also wish to read EcoLogics’ critique of Lord Justice Stephen Sedley’s intevention in the debate concerning the DNA database in Lord Justice Stephen Sedley’s BBC Interview: The Confusion of Powers
References
1) Extract from the European Court of Human Rights judgement in the case S. and Marper vs. the United Kingdom. You can read the full judgement and press release here.
