Forensic DNA profiling is increasingly becoming a standard tool in the search for missing people in the aftermath of mass violence and mass disaster. Yet, there has been very little systematic effort to identify and analyze the major ethical and policy challenges associated with this new use of genetic technology. Thus, stakeholders involved in post-conflict and post-disaster investigations have had to develop their own ad hoc rules and ethical principles for the identification process.

The Advancing Research Ethics training in Southern Africa (ARESA) program will promote responsible research in southern Africa by offering a postgraduate Diploma/Masters level educational program to health care and other professionals in research ethics and by developing a national network for Research Ethics Committee (REC) members.

As concerns for border security increase, policymakers are turning to genomics as a biometric for tracing individuals entering the country, identifying missing migrants' remains, processing refugee claims, and screening for human trafficking. Increasingly, genomic information is a part of legislation and policy as a universal and sustainable biometric. Genetic verification of claimed relationships is required for some refugees and proposed legislation would expand this practice.

Public Health Relevance Section Policies in the U.S. increasingly rely upon genomic information as a biometric to inform visa application processes, by verifying biological relationship claims or statehood claims, and broad DNA collection from non-criminals may help with missing persons, disaster victim, and terrorism investigations. The societal implications of these genomic applications are broad, with benefits and risks to the individuals undergoing testing, the communities in which they live, and the nation at large.