DNA Identification in the Aftermath of Genocide and Mass Violence

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去二十年中，法医DNA分析已成为调查侵犯人权和种族灭绝的重要工具。然而，人们对这种基因技术应用的伦理、历史、政治、社会心理或政策层面的理解很少。由于缺乏完善的相关研究体系，指导人道主义DNA鉴定项目实施的条例也很少，这意味着组织和个人必须为鉴定过程制定自己的临时规则和程序。在许多情况下也出现了同样的问题，往往导致持续的敌意和无法结束。该项目将为人道主义DNA鉴定方面的经验文献做出贡献，并为制定具体政策建议提供信息。运用科学技术研究、人类学、历史学、次等研究和创伤与和解研究的理论方法，首席研究员将系统地分析两个主要案例：前南斯拉夫国际失踪人员委员会使用DNA分析来识别20世纪90年代巴尔干战争中4万多名失踪人员；以及南非国家检察机关努力寻找和识别种族隔离时代的2000多名失踪者。具体目标是：1)描述这些DNA鉴定程序的历史发展；2)检查个人识别侵犯人权受害者的道德和政治层面；3)研究DNA鉴定的社会心理维度；4)分析DNA鉴定项目在个人、社区、群体间和政治层面的影响。本项目还将探讨与这些目标密不可分的几个主要伦理问题，例如：私营生物技术公司在人道主义项目中的作用（和利润动机）；如何确定DNA测试是否符合特定社区的最佳利益；平衡法律制度的证据需要与家庭和社区的治疗需要；对于在以前的冲突中发现的仍然具有象征意义和政治意义的尸体，我们应该做些什么？这项研究将结合文献和档案研究、口述历史访谈和民族志。将注意确保听取受DNA鉴定影响的普通人的声音，并将他们的观点纳入所有最终工作成果。除了作为个别案例研究、学术文章和报告发表外，这项研究还将成为首席研究员关于科学和人权的更大项目的一部分，该项目名为《对死者的解释：种族灭绝和大规模暴力之后的科学、政治和身份认同》。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over the past two decades, forensic DNA profiling has become an important tool in the investigation of human rights abuse and genocide. There is, however, little understanding of the ethical, historical, political, psychosocial, or policy dimensions of this application of genetic technology. The lack of a well-developed body of relevant research, and few regulations to guide the implementation of humanitarian DNA identification projects, means that organizations and individuals must develop their own ad hoc rules and procedures for the identification process. The same problems have arisen in numerous situations, often leading to continued hostility and a lack of closure. This project will contribute to empirical literature on humanitarian DNA identification, and inform the development of concrete policy recommendations. Using theoretical approaches from science and technology studies, anthropology, history, subaltern studies, and studies of trauma and reconciliation, the principal investigator will systematically analyze two major cases: the use of DNA profiling by the International Commission for Missing Persons in the former Yugoslavia to identify the 40,000-plus missing people from the Balkan Wars of the 1990s; and the South African National Prosecuting Authority's efforts to locate and identify the 2000-plus missing people from the apartheid era. The specific aims are to: 1) describe the historical development of these DNA identification programs; 2) examine the ethical and political dimensions of individually identifying victims of human rights abuse; 3) investigate the psychosocial dimensions of DNA identification; and 4) analyze the impacts of DNA identification projects at the individual, community, inter-group, and political levels. This project will also explore several major ethical issues that are inextricably linked with these aims, including, for example: the role of private biotechnology companies (and the profit motive) in humanitarian projects; how to determine whether or not DNA testing is in the best interest of a particular community; balancing the evidentiary needs of the legal system with the therapeutic needs of families and communities; and what should be done about the discovery of bodies from previous conflicts that are still symbolically and politically relevant. This research will combine documentary and archival research with oral history interviews and ethnography. Care will be taken to ensure that the voices of ordinary people affected by DNA identification are heard and that their perspectives are incorporated into all final work products. In addition to being published as individual case studies, academic articles, and presentations, this research will become part of the principal investigator's larger project on science and human rights, entitled Accounting for the Dead: Science, Politics, and Identity in the Aftermath of Genocide and Mass Violence.