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On June 22, 2026, in Geneva, on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the governments of Italy, Chile, and Cameroon, together with the Holy See, presented a joint political declaration calling for an international moratorium on surrogate motherhood (surrogacy).

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The declaration is intended as an intermediate step on the path toward a binding international treaty aimed at the complete abolition of the practice.

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The initiative refers to the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2025.

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The organizers announced that the document remains open for signature by additional states, treating it as the beginning of a longer diplomatic process leading toward the conclusion of a binding international agreement.

The Geneva event

On June 22, 2026, on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, a side event was held titled “Building Momentum Towards a Moratorium on Surrogacy.” The co-organizers were the government of Italy, the government of Chile, Cameroon, and the Holy See, with the event moderated by the organization Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF International). Participants included: Italian Minister for Family, Natality and Equal Opportunities Eugenia Roccella; Director of Human Rights at Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Felipe Kipreos Palau; the Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero; Cameroon’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Salomon Eheth; advisor to Argentina’s Ministry of Justice, Professor Ursula Basset; as well as Reem Alsalem herself, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls.

During her address, Minister Roccella emphasized that “women should never be reduced to instruments of reproduction, and that children should never be treated as the subject of a transaction.” She also drew attention to the global character of the surrogate motherhood market, valued in the billions of dollars, and to the need for a coherent and coordinated international response to protect women and children from exploitation. She recalled that Italy criminalized surrogacy in 2004 and, in 2024, extended criminal sanctions to citizens attempting to obtain recognition in Italy of a surrogate motherhood agreement concluded abroad.

Archbishop Balestrero, while acknowledging the “legitimate desire to have a child,” indicated that every child has the right to a fully human origin, and that surrogacy violates the rights of the child and distorts the family’s original relational vocation. Chile’s representative, Felipe Kipreos Palau, described the proposed moratorium as a prudent and responsible measure aimed at preventing further harm while making it possible to develop stronger safeguards and coordinated legal solutions. Cameroon’s Ambassador Salomon Eheth, in turn, stressed that neither a woman’s body nor a child’s life should become the subject of a commercial contract, invoking his country’s criminal provisions penalizing the practice. Professor Ursula Basset of Argentina addressed the argument about the supposedly altruistic character of some surrogate motherhood agreements, observing that it would be convincing only if a wealthy woman carried a pregnancy for a poor woman, and not the other way around.

The content and purpose of the declaration

The declaration, published by the event’s organizers, describes surrogacy as a practice involving serious human rights violations and abuses, including the commodification of human life and of women’s reproductive capabilities, as well as harm to the rights of children resulting from their deliberate separation from the women who gave birth to them. The signatories indicate that women and girls involved in surrogacy arrangements are exposed to serious medical risks, coercion, exploitation, and loss of agency, with these risks disproportionately affecting persons in more difficult social and economic circumstances, who have limited access to effective legal remedies. The document also draws attention to the potential psychological, emotional, and identity-related consequences for children born as a result of surrogacy, as well as to complex legal problems concerning the determination of parentage, citizenship, and legal protection, and to the risks of abandonment and human trafficking.

The aim of the declaration is not to introduce a ban directly in international law, but rather to initiate a process whose first stage would be an international moratorium on the practice of surrogate motherhood, and whose ultimate goal would be the adoption of a binding instrument of international law leading to its abolition. The document is not binding in nature — no state is obligated to amend its domestic law on its basis. It does, however, carry diplomatic significance: it places the issue of surrogate motherhood on the international human rights agenda as a transnational phenomenon, rather than merely a private civil-law contract.

The initiative refers directly to Reem Alsalem’s report presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2025, in which she described surrogate motherhood as a practice characterized by exploitation and violence against women and children, including girls, and called on the international community to work toward its elimination through a binding international instrument. Alsalem also endorsed the Geneva initiative, indicating that states acceding to the declaration recognize that surrogate motherhood raises fundamental concerns related to human dignity and the commodification of women and children, and that the fragmentation of national approaches fosters the emergence of a global cross-border market that transfers risk onto women and children in jurisdictions with weaker safeguards.

The national context: a growing number of restrictions

The Geneva declaration emerged against the backdrop of a growing number of national regulations restricting or prohibiting surrogate motherhood. Italy introduced a ban on surrogacy in 2004 and, in 2024 extended criminal liability to citizens attempting to obtain recognition of such an agreement concluded abroad, thereby becoming the first state to prohibit the practice both within its territory and beyond its borders. In September 2025, Slovakia adopted a constitutional amendment introducing a ban on surrogate motherhood at the level of its basic law. In January 2026, the Family, Childhood and Adolescent Commission of the National Congress of Chile adopted a bill prohibiting the practice in Chile.

Further steps: broadening the group of signatories

The organizers emphasize that the Geneva declaration is not a closed document, but rather the starting point of a longer diplomatic process. Giorgio Mazzoli, Director of UN Advocacy at ADF International, which moderated the event, stated directly that the next stage is to secure the support of additional states for the declaration: “This is an open document. It does not end here.” According to Mazzoli, the goal remains a binding international instrument, but the process will require intermediate stages — gathering further evidence, changes in national legislation, building political support, and developing a broader shared understanding of the effects that surrogate motherhood produces for women and children. Only after a sufficiently broad coalition of states has been assembled would it be possible, in this perspective, to begin negotiations on a binding treaty or convention.

The initiative is also supported by an open letter signed by more than 220 non-governmental organizations from 40 countries, calling for a coordinated international response to surrogate motherhood, initiated with the involvement of, among others, ADF International. At the current stage, the Geneva declaration remains a document of a political, legally non-binding character, signed by a limited number of states, toward which most European Union member states have taken a critical position. Its further fate will depend on whether the organizers succeed, in the coming months and years, in expanding the group of signatories beyond the four current co-initiators, and in translating the declared political support into concrete progress toward a binding instrument of international law.

“The Geneva declaration constitutes the first formal step toward placing the issue of surrogate motherhood on the agenda of international human rights law as a cross-border phenomenon requiring a coordinated response from states, rather than solely national regulation. The durability and reach of the initiative’s impact will depend on whether additional states join it in the coming months, and on whether the diplomatic process announced by the organizers leads to concrete negotiations on a binding instrument of international law,” emphasizes Julia Książek, an analyst at the Ordo Iuris Center for International Law.

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Source of cover photo: iStock