DNA Identification in the Aftermath of Genocide and Mass Violence

描述（由申请人提供）： 在过去的二十年里，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，人们对遗传技术的这种应用的伦理、历史、政治、社会心理或政策方面的了解甚少。缺乏完善的相关研究机构，以及指导人道主义DNA鉴定项目实施的条例很少，意味着各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，往往导致持续的敌对行动和无法了结。该项目将为人道主义DNA鉴定方面的经验文献作出贡献，并为制定具体的政策建议提供信息。主要研究者将运用科学技术研究、人类学、历史学、底层研究、创伤与和解研究等理论方法，系统分析两个重大案例：前南斯拉夫失踪人员国际委员会利用DNA图谱鉴定20世纪90年代巴尔干半岛的战争中4万多名失踪人员的身份;以及南非国家检察机关努力寻找和确认种族隔离时期2000多名失踪人员的身份。具体目标是：1）描述这些DNA鉴定项目的历史发展; 2）研究个别识别人权侵犯受害者的道德和政治层面; 3）调查DNA鉴定的心理社会层面; 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切相关的几个主要伦理问题，例如：人道主义项目中的（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;平衡法律的系统的证据需要与家庭和社区的治疗需要;以及应该如何处理在以前冲突中发现的仍然具有象征意义和政治意义的尸体。本研究将联合收割机与口述历史、访谈及民族志研究结合。将注意确保听取受DNA鉴定影响的普通人的意见，并将他们的观点纳入所有最终工作成果。除了作为个案研究、学术文章和演讲发表外，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《死者的会计：种族灭绝和大规模暴力之后的科学、政治和身份》。

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.