Key facts
- The rise in international surrogacy arrangements is increasing the risk of babies being born stateless.
- Efforts to create a global surrogacy convention by The Hague Conference on Private International Law have been suspended due to member state disagreements.
- Differing laws across countries, from bans to commercial allowances, create complex legal situations for children born via surrogacy.
- Statelessness can occur when a child's nationality is not automatically granted and surrogacy is not recognized in the birth country or destination country.
- Experts warn of "limping parentage," where a child has different legal parents in different countries.
The increasing use of surrogacy arrangements in foreign countries is raising concerns among experts about the growing risk of babies being born stateless. This issue has gained prominence following the suspension of a 15-year initiative by The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) to create a global convention on surrogacy, a move attributed to significant divisions among member states regarding the practice's ethics.
Experts highlight that the complex and varied legal landscapes surrounding surrogacy across different nations, from outright bans to commercial arrangements, create a "patchwork" of laws. This inconsistency can lead to "limping parentage," where a child may have different legal parents in different countries, and critically, can result in statelessness if a child's nationality is not automatically recognized in their country of birth or their intended home country.
Michael Hellner, who chaired the HCCH working group, expressed frustration over the lack of political will and the deeply divided opinions on the ethics of surrogacy among member states, which ultimately halted the project. He emphasized that this lack of international coordination directly impacts children, increasing the risk of statelessness.
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, president of Child Identity Protection, echoed these concerns, calling the HCCH's pause a missed opportunity for establishing explicit international standards for recognizing legal parentage in surrogacy cases, which is often a prerequisite for nationality.
The issue has also surfaced in political spheres, with former German health minister Jens Spahn facing scrutiny after revealing his use of a surrogate, a practice his party strongly opposes. Meanwhile, organizations like Unicef are advocating for improved guidelines to safeguard the rights of children involved in international surrogacy.
Concerns about exploitation are also significant, with some critics, including UN special rapporteur Reem Alsalem, calling for a global abolition of surrogacy, describing it as a system of violence and exploitation, particularly against vulnerable women from poorer nations. Conversely, agencies facilitating surrogacy argue that with proper ethical regulation, international arrangements can work, providing a necessary option for individuals facing long fertility journeys.