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The United Nations is increasingly concerned at the spread in Europe of "baby boxes" where infants can be secretly abandoned byparents, warning that the practice "contravenes the right of thechild to be known and cared for by his or her parents", theGuardian has learned. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which reports on howwell governments respect and protect children 's human rights, is alarmed at the prevalence of the hatches usually outside a hospital which allow unwanted newborns to beleft in boxes with an alarm or bell to summon a carer. The committee, a group of 18 international human rights expertsbased in Geneva, says that while "foundling wheels" and babyhatches had disappeared from Europe in the last century, almost 200have been installed across the continent in the past decade innations as diverse as Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Poland , Czech Republic and Latvia . Since 2000, more than 400 children have been abandoned in thehatches, with faith groups and right-wing politicians spearheadingthe revival in the controversial practice. Their proponents draw on the language of the pro-life lobby andclaim the baby boxes "protect a child's right to life" and havesaved "hundreds of newborns". There are differing opinions on thiskey social issue across Europe. In France and Holland women havethe right to remain anonymous to their babies after giving birth,while in the UK it remains a crime to secretly abandon a child. However UN officials argue that baby hatches violate key parts ofthe Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which sayschildren must be able to identify their parents and even ifseparated from them the state has a "duty to respect the child'sright to maintain personal relations with his or her parent". In an interview with the Guardian, Maria Herczog, a member of theUNCRC committee, said that the arguments from critics were athrowback to the past. "Just like medieval times in many countrieswe see people claiming that baby boxes prevent infanticide thereis no evidence for this." Herczog, a prominent child psychologist from Hungary, says babyboxes should be replaced by better state provision of family planning, counselling for women and support for unplannedpregnancies. She likened the pro-baby box movements in Europe to the religiousright in the US. "Very similar to the United States where we havethe spread of the Safe Haven programme with baby boxes in 50 states since 1999. Now we haveMEPs arguing for baby boxes and they just reject the convention." The committee wrote last year to the government in the Czechrepublic, which has seen 44 baby boxes set up since 2005, asking it"undertake all measures necessary to end the programme as soon aspossible". The ensuing row spilt over borders with two dozen right-wing MEPs,including the current president of Hungary, writing to complainthat baby boxes "offer(ed) a solution for women who unfortunatelykeep their pregnancy a secret and fear to approach official instructions". In an email to the Guardian, Manfred Weber, German MEP andvice-chairman of the European People's Party the largestgrouping on the centre right who signed the anti-UNCRC letter,said the issue was one of competing "rights". "Although I amconvinced that a child is best raised within an intact family, thesafety of children is of higher priority than their desire to knowtheir biological parents," he said. There is evidence that the baby box idea is popular. A Swiss pollin 2011 found 87% saying baby boxes were "very useful or useful"and more than a quarter of respondents thought every hospitalshould have one. Herczog said that the committee is undeterred. "We reviewcountries' adherence to the convention. We did Czech Republic.Austria is coming up. I cannot say for sure but I can imagine wewill do the same for Austria (as the Czech Republic)". Her stance was backed by experts. Kevin Browne of the Centre forForensic and Family Psychology at The University of Nottingham hasjust completed a two-year study into the phenomenon. He said of the27 EU member countries, 11 still have "baby hatches" operating Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Slovakia. "There is growing evidence that it is frequently men or relativesabandoning the child, raising questions about the mother'swhereabouts and whether she has consented to giving up her baby,"he said. "You also have to ask whether an anonymous drop allows theauthorities to check whether there's a chance for the baby toremain with its family in the care of other relatives." Browne's research found that the Czech Republic and Lithuania bothhave an average of seven infants left in baby hatches per year,followed by Poland with six and Hungary and Slovakia with four and highlighted that baby boxes had flowered in post-Communisteastern Europe. Politicians in the former Communist bloc dispute this analysis.Miroslav Mikol ik, a Christian Democrat MEP from Slovakia,said that the "communist idea" was "to take away violently a childfrom a family that they considered as an enemy of regime and placehim or her in a state orphanage If UN convention on the rightsof the child's article 8 that guarantees children's right to knowtheir own identity means the death of only one unwanted baby, it isa very wrong article and very wrong convention." In western Europe the issue is complicated by religious practiceand the law. Sari Essayah, Finnish MEP from the centre-rightChristian Democrats, pointed out that in Scandinavia "two lesbianscan get sperm anonymously and have children. They don't know thename of the donor. So what about the rights of the child? The UNhave got it wrong here about baby boxes." Perhaps the most taxing problem will be Germany, the powerhouse ofEurope, which has about 80 baby boxes operating across the nation.The German constitution says all citizens have a right to "know oftheir origins" and fathers have a right to be part of a child'supbringing. Both are breached when a mother gives birthanonymously. Hatches are tolerated but earlier this year Germanministers floated the possibility of a new "legal framework forconfidential births". In February the German Youth Institute found that the anonymousservice had lost trace of a fifth of all abandoned babies givingammunition to those who want to end the practice. However Bernd Posselt, Christian Social Union MEP for Munich whosigned the letter to the UNCRC last year, told the Guardian that"our experiences with baby-boxes here in Munich, for exampleorganised by a monastery, have been positive. I know also theproblems, but for me it is essential to protect and to safeguardthe life of children in extreme situations. All other problems canbe solved with good will as long as the child is alive. It is notthe decision of an United Nations committee what we are doing tohelp born or unborn children". I am an expert from hairsalonequipments.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Hair Dryer Diffuser Manufacturer , Salon Trolley Cart Manufacturer, Round Hair Brush,and more.
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