SEIMAS of the republic of lithuania

REsOLUtion

ON CONDEMNING ALL FORMS OF SURROGACY

25 June 2020 No XIII-3160

Vilnius

The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

building on the provision of Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and being deeply convinced that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,

having regard to the fact that Article 35 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for the prevention of the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form,

noting that the Article 1 of the United Nations Slavery Convention defines slavery as the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised,

stressing that Article 21 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine prohibits financial gain and disposal of a part of the human body,

having regard to the following obligations arising from international treaties:

- the obligation under Article 6 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women,

- the obligation under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure the right of the child to know and be cared for by his or her biological parents (Article 7 of this Convention), the right to preserve his or her identity, including biological family relations (Article 8 of this Convention), the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to maintain direct contact with both parents on a regular basis (Article 9 of this Convention) and the right to family reunification (Article 10 of this Convention),

noting that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for paying due regard to the desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background when considering solutions relating to alternative care of the child (Article 20 of this Convention),

stressing that Article 2 of the European Convention on the Legal Status of Children born out of Wedlock provides that maternal affiliation of every child born out of wedlock is based solely on the fact of the birth of the child,

observing that Article 4(4)(4) of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption requires that the consent for adoption is not obtained by coercion or for the purpose of improper financial gain,

pointing out that the European Parliament resolution of 5 April 2011 on priorities and outline of a new EU policy framework to fight violence against women (2010/2209(INI)) asks Member States to acknowledge the serious problem of surrogacy which constitutes an exploitation of the female body and her reproductive organs, emphasising therein that women and children are subject to the same forms of exploitation and both can be regarded as commodities on the international reproductive market, and that these new reproductive arrangements augment the trafficking of women and children and illegal adoption across national borders,

emphasising that the European Parliament resolution of 17 December 2015 on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2014 and the European Union’s policy on the matter (2015/2229(INI) condemns the practice of surrogacy, which undermines the human dignity of the woman since her body and its reproductive functions are used as a commodity; considers that the practice of gestational surrogacy which involves reproductive exploitation and use of the human body for financial or other gain, in particular in the case of vulnerable women in developing countries, shall be prohibited and treated as a matter of urgency in human rights instruments,

observing that the report of 2018 of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material (A/73/174) and the thematic report on surrogacy (A/HRC/37/60) warn against the abuse of all forms of surrogacy,

recalling the provision of Article 38 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania establishing that the family is the basis of society and the State, and the constitutional duty of the State to ensure protection of family, motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood,

stressing that, in their essence, surrogacy and adoption are distinct practices that reflect two fundamentally different approaches to the rights of the child, since adoption is linked to the specific needs of the already born child, and surrogacy is focused on adult desires with regard to a non-existing child,

highlighting that surrogacy involves deliberate termination of existing family relationships, while adoption is aimed at creating family for a de facto abandoned child and therefore recommending that couples unable to have children of their own should go for adoption rather than surrogacy, the former being in the best interests of the child,

noting that surrogacy techniques lead to a situation where parental rights with regard to the child are claimed on the genetic, biological or legal basis, thus creating a legal chaos in international and national practices,

seeing that the attempts by states to regulate surrogacy in law have only given rise to reproductive tourism and increased the exploitation of women and trafficking in children in poor countries,

condemns all forms of surrogacy as they entail instrumentalisation of women and children;

insists that any form of surrogacy, both the so-called altruistic and commercial ones, is a modern form of slavery and trafficking in human beings;

notes that the European Parliament, which has condemned the practice of surrogacy on several occasions, has never distinguished between its altruistic and commercial aspects;

points out that commercial surrogacy violates a number of instruments under international law and the right of every person to be protected from becoming an object of trade or property;

stresses that there are no legal or ethical grounds to legitimise this practice humiliating women and children;

expresses concern that female nationals of less wealthy countries in the world are exploited for reproductive tourism purposes;

draws attention to the fact that such practices also happen on the European continent and therefore  states that only full and definitive condemnation of any form of surrogacy represents the best way to eliminate the practice that violates human rights and undermines human dignity;

calls on the President of the Republic, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania to:

1) condemn any form of surrogacy as a practice of exploitation of women’s reproductive function;

2) condemn any form of reproductive tourism, particularly in the countries of the Council of Europe;

3) take active steps, at international level and, in particular, in the European Union Member States, to ban surrogacy as a form of trafficking in human beings and exploitation of women;

4) seek, at international level, the recognition of the right of states to decline to recognise judicial decisions on adoption and claims for parentage based on surrogacy agreements;

5) stress that states, in cases where there are claims to recognise parentage of children falling within their jurisdiction on the basis of surrogacy agreements, have the right to decline the recognition of parentage and the right to apply adoption procedures under the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption;

6) urge countries to impose heavy fines on those partaking in international surrogacy agreements, including mediation agencies, healthcare institutions, lawyers, and medical staff;

7) encourage at international level European Union Member States to pursue the practice of adoption rather than surrogacy in their social policies, the former being in the best interests of the child;

proposes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania:

1) submit to the Secretary-General of the United Nations the amendment to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, whereby acquiring of the child through surrogacy is recognised as a form of child trafficking, or an application for the revision of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to include the obligation to take all measures, including legislation, to prohibit any form of surrogacy;

2) submit a written inquiry to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding the fulfilment of the obligations by the Member States under the European Convention on the Legal Status of Children born out of Wedlock.

Speaker of the Seimas Viktoras Pranckietis