Poland defends ‘baby boxes’

Poland’s top church leader has defended the existence of “baby boxes” where mothers can anonymously abandon unwanted newborns, in reaction to a recent call by the United Nations to ban the practice.

Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, the Roman Catholic primate of Poland, said the so-called “windows of life” save lives and form part of the country’s traditions.

His comments come after the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said last month that baby boxes should be banned, an agenda it is pushing at the European Parliament.

The UN says the boxes deny children the right to know who their parents are.