The National Genetic Database, used to find the children of people disappeared by the dictatorship and reunite them with their biological families, may be at risk if President Javier Milei’s omnibus bill is approved in Congress, according to deputies and human rights organizations.
The Chamber of Deputies is set to start debating the omnibus bill on Monday at noon. The bill aims to privatize some public companies and give the executive branch the power to dissolve certain public organizations and institutions, among dozens of other reforms.
Article 3 of the bill would allow the executive branch to modify, close down, or restructure public organizations. It includes a list of organizations that are exempt — which does not include the National Genetic Database.
“It is subject to potential dissolution by the national executive power, […] putting its existence at risk,” said a statement published by the UCR party on Friday. “We still have time to defend the National Genetic Database in Congress,” they added.
“The possibility of the database closing exists,” said Guillermo Pérez Roisinblit, son of two dictatorship victims who remain disappeared. He recovered his identity thanks to the National Genetic Database. “This cannot be subject to the personal opinion of a person or a political party. While the database was created per request of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, this has to do with policies linked to international commitments Argentina has taken.”
“The Argentine state has the obligation to look for each and every one of those who are still disappeared, including those who were taken from their families and are still alive,” he told the Herald.
You may also be interested in: How the grandmothers of disappeared children drove a revolution in genetics
Pérez Roisinblit got to meet his biological family — including his sister and grandmothers, who searched for him for years — and confirmed his real identity in 2000 thanks to a revolutionary genetic analysis technique designed by geneticists Mary-Claire King and Víctor Penchaszadeh. The National Genetic Database further confirmed his identity in 2004.
The technique, known as the “grandparent index,” aims to find matches between grandmothers and their missing grandchildren through blood samples, a pioneering practice worldwide. DNA tests are commonly done with samples from the parent, but in these cases it is impossible because the parents remain disappeared.
King and Penchaszadeh started working with Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo in 1982 — a year before the dictatorship ended — to develop this technique. The National Genetic Database was created in 1987 as a way to obtain, store and analyze genetic samples from the disappeared victims’ families and of those who think they may be their children, so that their identities can be restored and justice can be made.
“I hope this [decision] can be modified during the debate,” Pérez Roisinblit said. “Without the database, many of us [grandchildren] would have never been found and identified.”
So far, 133 grandchildren have been identified thanks to the National Genetic Database — the most recent in July, 2023. At least 300 more are still to be found, according to Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
Omnibus bill puts National Genetic Database at risk, deputies warn
23
0
29.04.2024
The National Genetic Database, used to find the children of people disappeared by the dictatorship and reunite them with their biological families, may be at risk if President Javier Milei’s omnibus bill is approved in Congress, according to deputies and human rights organizations.
The Chamber of Deputies is set to start debating the omnibus bill on Monday at noon. The bill aims to privatize some public companies and give the executive branch the power to dissolve certain public organizations and institutions, among dozens of other reforms.
Article 3 of the bill would allow the executive branch to modify, close down, or restructure public organizations. It includes a list of organizations that are exempt — which does not include the National Genetic Database.
“It is subject to potential dissolution by the........
© Buenos Aires Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Donald Low
Mort Laitner
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
Michael Kwet
