A new Kuwaiti law imposing mandatory DNA tests on citizens and foreigners violates the right to personal privacy and should be amended, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

Parliament endorsed the law in early July, less than a week after an Islamic State jihadist blew himself up in a Shi’ite mosque in Kuwait killing 26 people and wounding more than 200 others, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The legislation calls on the interior ministry to establish a database on all Kuwait’s 1.3 million citizens and 2.9 million foreign residents.

“Many measures could potentially be useful in protecting against terrorist attacks, but potential usefulness is not enough to justify a massive infringement on human rights,” HRW added. - TradeArabia News Service