LEGAL AND FACTUAL ASPECTS IN SITUATIONS OF MISSING CHILDREN FROM MATERNITY HOSPITALS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Abstract

            The issue of missing newborns from maternity hospitals in the Republic of Serbia represents one of the most controversial and painful phenomena in the country’s recent history. From the 1970s until the early 2000s, numerous families claimed that their newborn children had disappeared from hospitals, most often being told by medical staff that the baby had died. However, the lack of official documentation, inconsistencies in the information provided, and the parents’ inability to see the allegedly deceased child or attend a funeral, have raised legitimate suspicions of a systemic problem potentially involving organized crime. Unfortunately, the majority of these cases remain unresolved to this day, and institutional accountability has been largely absent.

            The aim of this work is to present and analyze the legal and factual framework surrounding the issue of missing newborns from maternity hospitals across the Republic of Serbia. Methodologically, the paper relies on the analysis of relevant legislation, court practice, official documents, media reports, and parental testimonies, including the personal experience of the author, whose own family endured such a tragedy. Special attention is given to the applicable legal framework, as well as the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Zorica Jovanović v. Serbia, which led to the adoption of the Law on Determining the Facts about the Status of Newborn Children Suspected to Have Disappeared from Maternity Wards in the Republic of Serbia.