French Minister of Immigration Eric Besson
According to the minister, French consulates and embassies abroad do not have the necessary equipment and doctors to conduct DNA tests. In addition, the minister emphasized that the law's entry into force threatens France with a deterioration of its national image abroad.
The law on introducing DNA tests for migrants was passed by the French parliament at the end of 2007. The DNA tests that migrants must undergo before entering France are necessary to detect cases of fraud when an entrant justifies the move by fictitious family ties.
Human rights activists, scientists and the opposition, who opposed the law and saw a racist undertone in it, welcomed Besson's decision. A representative of the charity «Terre d'Asile», which helps asylum seekers, called the minister's decision «a display of common sense».
At the same time, French Prime Minister François Fillon noted that the government does not intend to abandon the law, which will be returned to parliament for revision.
As Lenta.ru notes, a similar law is in effect in 12 European Union countries. Nevertheless, in France, opponents of the law argued that it creates a dangerous precedent, since in defining the right to life in France, the principle of human rights gives way to the principle of genetics.