The Ministry of Justice hereby calls upon the representatives of the non-governmental organisation Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) to explain to the Serbian public why the Establishing the Facts about the Status of New-Borns Suspected to Have Disappeared from Maternity Hospitals in the Republic of Serbia Bill (the so-called ‘Missing Babies Bill’) is unacceptable to them, given the fact that several amendments proposed by YUCOM have been incorporated into the Bill which is soon to be discussed by Members of Parliament.


The first version of the Bill was sent to the Parliament for adoption in 2016, but the following year it was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure due to the formation of a new Serbian Government. Under such circumstances, the Ministry of Justice used the opportunity to further improve the text.


Given that YUCOM, in cooperation with the Belgrade Group of Missing Babies Parents, submitted their proposals for amendments in November 2016, the Ministry of Justice improved the text by accepting 7 of 9 proposals. In a letter addressed to the Ministry at the time, the representatives of these organisations stated that they agreed in principle with sending the text for further procedural approvals.

The Ministry of Justice would like to thank the above organisations for their assistance in drafting the text of the law which will contribute to establishing the facts and the circumstances of disappearance of new-borns.

It is worth mentioning that the Bill incorporated most of the recommendations made by the Council of Europe (CoE) whose assessment of the Bill has been positive. It should also be noted that, at the CoE’s initiative, and on the basis of a public hearing held at the Serbian National Assembly in November 2019, the Parliamentary Committee on the
Judiciary, Public Administration and Local Self-Government submitted six more amendments to the Bill.

The Justice Ministry Working Group tasked with drafting the Bill was composed of representatives of all relevant institutions: Justice, Interior and Health Ministries, the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Supreme Court of Cassation, and the State Attorney’s Office. The groups of parents of new-borns suspected of having disappeared from maternity hospitals in the Republic of Serbia also had their representatives in the Working Group.

Appended to this press release is the letter from YUCOM from November 2016.