BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina’s Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who might have been born to political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago — even when they don’t want to know their birth parents.
Human-rights activists hope the law will help find about 400 people stolen as babies, many from women who were kidnapped and gave birth inside clandestine torture centers during the 1976-83 dictatorship.
Thousands of leftists disappeared in what became known as the “dirty war” against political dissent.
Others see the new law as unacceptable government intrusion, legalizing the violation of a person’s very identity.
And as written, it could have much broader implications, enabling DNA to be sought from anyone whenever a judge determines the evidence to be “absolutely necessary.”
Children of the “disappeared” were often given to military or police families considered loyal to the military government. Some have grown up not knowing they were adopted until activists or judges announced efforts to obtain their DNA.
The project of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, close allies of President Cristina Fernandez, was approved by a 58-1 vote of the Senate on Wednesday. Since it has already passed in the lower house, it will become law once it is published in Argentina’s official bulletin.
Recovering their grandchildren has been a priority for the group since they first began demonstrating in front of the presidential palace in 1977, carrying pictures of their disappeared relatives.
DNA technology has helped them identify 98 of 500 children they think were born in prison or kidnapped as infants.
The Argentine government estimates about 13,000 people died in the crackdown on dissent. The grandmothers put the toll closer to 30,000.
