A Conflict of Interests: Privacy, Truth and Compulsory DNA Testing for Argentina's Children of the Disappeared

Elizabeth B. Ludwin King, Wake Forest University

Abstract

From 1976-1983, Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship that disappeared an estimated 30,000 suspected subversives, including parents of young children and pregnant women. Their children, either taken along with their parents or born in clandestine detention centers, were then given up for adoption, often to couples sympathetic with the government who knew of the children’s origins. This Article addresses Argentina’s newest effort to identify these now adult children: compulsory DNA testing in cases where the raising parents are suspected of having knowingly adopted their children illegally. It argues that although the mandatory testing permissibly infringes on the adult child’s right to privacy in favor of the biological grandparents’ right to truth, better options satisfy the interests of both groups. It offers a framework for countries in conflict or transition that in the future may face a similar dilemma – the apparent need to identify an innocent person’s biological origins amidst that individual’s reluctance or refusal to submit voluntarily to DNA testing.