FRANCE: French Senate approves amendments to a controversial immigration law which imposes DNA tests for relatives

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government avoided a setback over its plan to impose DNA tests on immigrants after making concessions that were approved by the upper house of parliament on Thursday (October 4). The bill, part of Sarkozy's promised crackdown on illegal immigration, contains plans to demand DNA tests from immigrants seeking to join their family in France. It has provoked opposition from inside and outside Sarkozy's centre-right bloc. Fearing a lawmakers' rebellion, Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux said the state would pick up the bill, not the families, and the tests would focus on the mother rather than the father to avoid paternity disputes. The tests will also have to be approved by a magistrate. Senator Pierre Fauchon told the chamber that the new law was intended to deal with a humanitarian problem. "We we were convinced that there was a real problem and it would have been easier to let it go. In the past if you didn't have an identification card then, that was it. This was inhumane. We have been looking for a solution. You said this is a very complex law. This is a diverse solution. When you have one nationality and seek a second one, women will be able to prove a genetic affiliation. We're trying to solve humanitarian problems," he said. The bill will now return to the lower house for approval later this month and is likely to pass into law despite opposition criticism of the watered-down DNA rules. Outside the senate, member Elizabeth Guigou criticised the new law and urged fellow politicians to reject it. "That is an amendment which has been almost empty of its meaning, but symbolically the signs remain and I think that the National Assembly has to refuse this amendment which has nothing to do with the rest of the law on immigration. The National Assembly has to refuse to vote in this amendment because I think we have to clearly say that we don't want in France all democrats from the right and the left to give a signal which politically please the National Front [far right] voters." Prime Minister Francois Fillon said such DNA testing was already used in 12 European countries. A petition against the testing, launched on Wednesday by the weekly Charlie Hebdo, has been signed by former centre-right Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin as well as Socialists, celebrities and Axel Kahn, an expert on bioethics. The Licra anti-racism group said it was unnecessary to pass a law on DNA testing. Such comments are unlikely to sway Sarkozy, formerly the interior minister. In his time in office, immigration laws tightened after youths in poor suburbs, many of them descendants of immigrants, rioted for three weeks in 2005. An OpinionWay survey published in September showed 74 percent of voters were in favour of allowing immigrants' relatives to come to France only if they spoke French.

ITN Source | October 5, 2007

Tags:. .avoid. .refuse. .approves. .approved. .approval