Press statement

Child trafficking is part of trafficking in human beings. In 2003 we signed a Cooperation Agreement with the General Police Directorate. Among other things, it obliges us to contact our police liaison about any suspected form of trafficking. Where we identify cases of exploitation, we follow professional working guidelines.

At the government's 19th regular session on 22 April 2024, parliamentary questions raised the subject of babies taken from maternity hospitals who were said to have died during birth. Prime Minister Dr Robert Golob said the government would provide funds for DNA tests to help resolve doubts in these cases. He added that representatives of the mothers had been directed to Društvo Ključ, which would supply the material means for the necessary procedures to establish any family links, and that if this support proved insufficient the state would take further measures.

Društvo Ključ is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation funded through applications to public calls. In 2023 the Ministry of Health approached us with a case suggesting suspected child trafficking. We responded, covered the cost of a DNA test for the woman concerned and offered her other forms of support.

In the days after the government session we received a number of calls from people whose children were born alive but who were later told by health workers that the child had died. The parents never saw their dead children. We are glad to offer help to anyone who contacts us, but before anything further can happen we need direct contact with the person — to talk, to clarify the situation, and to offer psychosocial support if they want it. In that conversation we may learn things that point to a suspected offence of human trafficking; whether a child is looking for their parents or the other way round; and whether the person seeking a test has information or a link on the other side (knowledge of where the biological parent or child might be, contact already made, and so on).

We think it matters that the information is clear, and that there is a protocol and clear guidance on how to proceed where there is a suspicion that someone was sold at birth, or that parents had a child taken from them and were told the child had died. In individual cases the police will also be notified under our agreement (people may remain anonymous), and we will consult the Ministry of Health, which under certain conditions will make funds available for DNA tests. We want to stress that Društvo Ključ has no dedicated funding for DNA testing, except where the Ministry of Health decides otherwise.

It is in our interest too that these matters are cleared up. The stories are hard, and the people who call us are in deep distress — some of them for more than sixty years. It matters that their stories and experiences are heard and that justice is done.