DNA Bill Approved In Senate To Strengthen National Security
The amendment to the Administration of Justice (DNA) Act was passed in the Senate on Friday.
This legislation will aid in border control protection and will see DNA testing carried out on suspected terrorists.
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Darrell Allahar, noted in the Senate on Friday that the proposed amendments to the Administration of Justice (DNA) Act, Chap. 5:34, will address a legislative gap that currently exists.
« The bill will allow non-intimate samples to be taken without consent from persons entering Trinidad and Tobago from conflict zones where they served as foreign terrorist fighters or where there are reasonable grounds to believe a person poses a threat to committing a terrorist act. The Anti-Terrorism Act, in our respectful view, and others, do not adequately address the issue of repatriation of citizens from conflict zones, or areas that may be declared geographically as zones where terrorist acts have occurred or are occurring as we speak. »
Independent Senator Dr. Desiree Murray maintained that the DNA samples must be gathered by a trusted institution.
« There is a central tension that this bill must confront, we are expanding the category of persons from whom DNA samples are taken to establish DNA profiles, while the institutional framework for processing, storing and using those profiles has not yet achieved the international accreditation on which evidential and intelligence value depends, Mr. President. Accreditation must be obtained before the expanded powers of this bill are relied upon in any serious prosecution. »
While Minister Allahar acknowledged the contribution made by Dr. Murray, he dismissed concerns raised by the opposition, referencing the right of access to a court for victims to be vindicated.
« If you look at the case of Agent McLeod, you look at all these other cases that talk about protection of the law, protection of the law includes the right of access to a court for the vindication of your rights. »
The Bill was passed, with 23 members voting for, seven members against, and no abstentions.
