Baby Trade in Tajikistan

Newborn babies in Tajikistan are occasionally spirited away from maternity homes and sold. Four criminal cases were launched into “baby thefts” between January and June. 

In some cases, mothers agree to give away an unwanted child, generally because they are unmarried and cannot face the social stigma. Sometimes, though, parents are told their baby was born dead.

In one recent case, a newborn baby girl went missing from a maternity hospital in the capital Dushanbe, and police discovered she had been bought by a woman who wanted a child, for around 200 US dollars.

The head of Tajikistan’s Supreme Court, Nusratullo Abdullozoda, believes that in most cases, the mothers are complicit, and the transaction amounts to an illegal form of adoption. 

Nilufar Karimova is an IWPR contributor in Tajikistan.