Dataharvest 2023 - the European Investgative Journalism Conference

This week openDemocracy and irpiMedia published a year-long investigation into alleged illegal adoptions of dozens of Armenian newborns to Italy. The alleged gang, including Armenia’s top obstetrician, a key government official responsible for international adoptions, and child welfare workers, procured babies by manipulating patients in a maternity hospital into putting their children into orphanages, from where they were sold to overseas couples wanting to adopt. In this session, Tatev will offer investigative methods and techniques that can be replicated by journalists in other countries (France, the United States, Russia, and Switzerland) where allegedly 437 Armenian kids have been sold at the price of €25,000 each. She will also tell us about the challenges of doing this kind of complex investigation and reflect on the lessons learned.