{"id":33729,"date":"2020-04-28T15:05:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/?p=33729"},"modified":"2025-12-13T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T20:45:00","slug":"what-respect-is-there-for-childrens-rights-concerning-surrogacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/what-respect-is-there-for-childrens-rights-concerning-surrogacy\/","title":{"rendered":"What Respect Is There for Children\u2019s Rights concerning Surrogacy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tolerated in certain countries (including Portugal<\/a> and Belgium<\/a>), prohibited in others (such as France<\/a>), surrogacy has entered public debate in recent years, as its modern practices pose ethical questions regarding children\u2019s rights, more specifically with respect to the child’s best interest.<\/a> So, to better understand the current questions around this issue, Humanium is here to give you an overview of this evolving topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is surrogacy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Facilitated by the evolution of medical techniques and by the movement of people, surrogacy is increasingly practised throughout the world. It involves the use of a surrogate mother, that is, a woman who carries a child for a couple to whom the child is given at birth. Several situations may explain the use of this practice (homosexual couples, infertility, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Risk of child-selling<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the evolution of surrogacy has revealed commercial practices involving the risk of selling children (child trafficking<\/a>) when the child is given to the intended couple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children told the Human Rights Council (The Human Rights Council discusses the right to privacy and the sale of children, 2018<\/em>), that \u201csurrogacy for commercial purposes shall be considered the sale of a child, as defined in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children<\/a>.<\/em>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to that, the Special Rapporteur stressed that \u201cstrict legislation based on human rights is essential to ensure that surrogacy is not akin to selling children<\/em>.\u201d It is thus evident, as raised by the Special Rapporteur, that there is an international void in the regulation of surrogacy, particularly commercial practices, with regards to respecting the rights of the child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the recommendations?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For better compliance with the rights of the child,<\/a> and specifically the optional protocol that deals with the sale of children, the Special Rapporteur listed the key recommendations that must be respected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n