Kuwait’s emir sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has spoken out against the law Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

Kuwait plans to scale down, and may ultimately revoke, a law forcing all its citizens and visitors to provide samples of their DNA. Reportedly introduced as a measure to combat terrorism, it is the first law of its kind worldwide, and has been criticised for being unconstitutional, undermining privacy rights and as being unlikely to prevent terrorist attacks.

In the wake of a legal challenge last month, and an appeal from the emir of Kuwait, the Kuwait parliament has now agreed to change the law so that only suspected criminals will need to give their DNA.

“Public authorities in Kuwait have agreed collectively on the flaws of the current DNA law,” says Adel Abdulhadi, the Kuwait-based lawyer behind the legal challenge lodged in September on constitutional grounds.


This was followed on 19 October by a request from the Emir that the law be revised in a way that would “safeguard people’s privacy”.

The parliament’s revised plans have been praised internationally. “This is a wise and responsible decision,” said Olaf Rieß, president of the European Society of Human Genetics, in a statement. “The law as originally proposed was disproportionate and likely to be ineffectual in tackling the problem of terrorism, and would have had negative consequences not just for Kuwaiti society, but also for medical science and research.”

Read more: Lawyers fight world’s first mandatory DNA sampling law