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Author	Dr Shuvro Prosun Sarker
Organisation/Institution	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Country	INDIA
Panel	Miscellaneous
Title	Harmonizing Regional Law for Genomic Equality: Towards a Cooperative Asian Framework on Genetic Discrimination
Abstract	The emergence of genomic technologies across Asia has intensified legal debates on equality, privacy, and discrimination. Despite constitutional guarantees of dignity and non-discrimination, most Asian jurisdictions lack explicit legal protection against genetic discrimination (GD) or recognition of genetic status as a prohibited ground under equality and privacy law. The result is a fragmented regulatory landscape that leaves individuals vulnerable to exclusion, stigma, and misuse of genetic information. This paper argues that addressing GD requires the harmonisation of Asian legal frameworks through cooperative regional mechanisms. It advances the idea of genomic solidarity - a principle that unites equality, privacy, and dignity within the governance of genetic data - and contends that fragmented domestic approaches can only be effectively strengthened through regional coordination and mutual legal convergence. Drawing on comparative doctrinal analysis, the paper proposes the establishment of an Asian Legal Framework on Genetic Discrimination (ALF-GD), conceptualised as a regional platform for harmonising anti-discrimination and data-protection laws, promoting mutual legal assistance, and supporting institutional capacity-building among member states. By linking the pursuit of equality to the cooperative ethos of regional solidarity, the paper demonstrates how Asia can transform fragmented protections into a coherent legal architecture for genomic justice. It concludes that embedding equality and privacy within genomic governance is essential to achieving sustainable justice and inclusive legal integration across the region. Keywords: genetic discrimination, genomic equality, privacy, solidarity, regional cooperation, Asia, legal harmonisation
Biography	Dr. Shuvro Prosun Sarker holds LL.M. and Ph.D. from the National University of Juridical Sciences, India, and B.A.LL.B. from the University of Calcutta, India. Before joining the Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur, India, he served at the Maharashtra National Law University Nagpur, National University of Juridical Sciences Kolkata, KIIT Law School, and Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group in teaching and research positions He worked on forced migration, humanitarian situations in the Indo-Bangladesh borderland, the right to information, laws preventing witch hunting and black magic, clinical and continuing legal education, etc. He also has a deep interest in exploring unenumerated fundamental and constitutional rights (post Puttaswamy Judgment), ideas associated with transformative constitutionalism, personal laws, human rights of underprivileged sections, human rights and criminal justice administration, discrimination based on genetic information, laws of war and technology, refugee protection and management, etc.