Today, 56 countries worldwide operate national DNA databases from Asia to Europe and the Americas. Some are still in their infancy, while others such as those in the United States and the United Kingdom are large, highly sophisticated and have been established for at least fifteen years.

Globally, at least 26 countries plan to set up new DNA databases including: Chile, Lebanon, Tanzania and Thailand. In some countries (Bermuda, UAE, Uzbekistan, Pakistan), announcements have envisaged including the whole population on the database. In other countries, such as Australia, China, Israel and New Zealand, existing DNA databases are to be expanded.

The growing number of DNA databases differ widely both in the categories of individuals included in the databases and in the allowed usages of the databases themselves. All such databases operate on a model that allows investigators to use the information on a grand scale for multiple ongoing investigations.

The threats to privacy and democracy worldwide posed by the rapid growth of DNA databases are heightened by the growing effort to link all these databases into one international database.

The speaker gave an overview of the international landscape of forensic DNA databases and  touched on five key issues:

1. entry criteria
2. sample collection
3. removal criteria
4. sample retention
5. database access

Each of these topics points up a critical feature of the current international forensic DNA landscape. Each is also a potential site for abuse as well as for reform.