By Mariam Hamed in Gaza - Special to Palestine Note

February 7, 2010

Don't be surprised if one day you find a crying infant thrown in front of a children's hospital, left by a sidewalk, or a trash can in the streets of Gaza.  It is an "infant of unknown parentage."

Twelve infants of 'unborn parentage' born annually in Gaza

Salim is a young man who works at a dumpsite called Juhr Al Deek in eastern Gaza. He described to Palestine Note how one day he found a piece of cloth in one of the trash bags. When he opened it, he found a "beautiful, angel-like infant." "When I saw the baby, I was shocked and said, 'Praise Be to God,' who wanted for this baby to live. I took him to the police who took him to the hospital," said Salim.

In another case, Residence Department director Khulood Ghanim of Al Rahma Hospital for Children told Palestine Note their hospital has recently received an abandoned (also called illegitimate) child found on the streets of Rafah City.

The only place for children

Al Rahma Orphanage is the only institution in Gaza that receives these infants. Since its founding in 1993, the orphanage has received 171 infants, with an average of 11 to 12 infants annually. Last year, they received six abandoned children.

"We receive these types of infants through the police, who describe them as those 'of unknown parentage,'" said Mumen Barakat, director of Al Rahma Association.

"When we receive the infants at the orphanage, we create a new profile for them and take their fingerprints. Then, we contact the hospital and ministry of health to issue them a birth certificate with fake parents' names. The orphanage then becomes in charge of their life expenses like food... health care, and education," he added.

In order to teach the children to cope with the society, the orphanage place the children with families when they reach seven years-old.

Muna Jadallah, a psychological supervisor of abandoned children says, the "only problem is the real assimilation of the illegitimates within the society because they refuse the people's sympathy. Some infants were a few days old when they were found with fractures because they were thrown in an unsafe place. Some of them suffer mental retardation that stays with them for the rest of their lives, and they endure that in addition to being born to unknown parents."

The role of the human rights organizations
 
Al Dhamir Human Rights Organization in Gaza raised this issue two years ago, saying that child abandonment is on the rise and warning of the dangers that this phenomenon might cause inside Palestinian society.

This issue caused a stir among some Palestinian sectors, whereas people described it as a normal result of life's hardships, social and psychological pressure, and the increase in poverty and unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip.

Riham Shami, director of the Children Department at Al Dhamir said: "As a human rights organization, we see that there is a necessity to study this phenomenon. We are very concerned, and we demand everyone, be it the government or the social and private institutions, work hard to end it by raising awareness [in] society and by discussing the possible procedures human rights organization can [implement] in monitoring the work of the orphanages, as well as following up with the Ministry of Social Affairs."
 
The cause of the problem
 
Saed Alssir Sawi, specialist at the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, has dealt with abandoned children in her field of work. "The illegitimate children phenomenon in Gaza is not something new, but the problem lies in a conservative society, which made this phenomenon worse," he said.

"There is no doubt [it is caused by] the conditions the society is going through like poverty, unemployment, social disintegration, ideological closure, the absence of the right social upbringing, the absence of the role of the school and family role, the absence of amusement sites and the media openness, the absence of law and order and the poor oversight of community," he added.

Palestinian law

Salah Abdul Muty, an attorney at the Independent Commission of Human Rights, said: "The Palestinian law states that illegitimate infants should be taken care of since birth until they become adults. The illegitimates carry Palestinian citizenship because they are born on Palestinian land. The law states that whoever leaves their child or abandons him in an illegal way that threatens his life is subject to five years in prison."

Photos:  Mariam Hamed

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